HaloME: Era of Contravene
by Evident Disaster
Summary: The Era of the Human Covenant War has ended, but the strife of a new age has dawned, now comes the threat from beyond and the chronicles of those who live in these troubled times. Chapter 26, the battle for Eta Halo has begun, the greatest battle since the time of the First Contact war has begun and all will decide the future of the galaxy. Updates have begun, CH22 has been edited.
1. Chapter 1

Halo/ME: Era of Contravene

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(AN: A quick note of all things, this story is standalone, and this story is about an AU once again, but this time slightly different, as in what would happen if the UCAF didn't listen to the Citadel Council, what happens if the UCAF instead wages war against the turians till the end? Well here's the result, and I will say this, it will go on a lot longer than before. And as a side note, this is just a prototype, I still need to clear up a lot of things in other stories, and this just came to me like a month before whole I was working so yeah, just keep this in mind.)

AN2: I just updates from this day due to a lot of errors and addressing a number of lore issues required for explaining about the UCAF, this should clear things up a bit.

It is 2555 the United Colonial Alliance has officially ended their war with the covenant and had rebuilt their ties with their long lost homeworld of Earth, however it is not time of peace… a new force emerges from the depths of space, and one that will last for one era to come.

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UCAF chronological data- ACCESS GRANTED

Date of admission- Published 2221- Updated 2521- Modified 2555

/Memo/ -Dr Valerie E Haley  
>To those who read this chronological archive of the UCAF you may require to read the UCAF foundation records and past ICA records in order to understand this, please note that all archives were accessed and modified by me, and any confidential data seen may or may not be factual as there have been continuity issues through the UCAF archives since 2399. All data regarding specific structures and organisations will be recorded in their own separate sections, please also note that this shares archived data on past organisations and records involving the military, economic and historic events and timelines. This information must not be allowed to fall into unwarranted hands due to the sensitivity of the information.<p>

To those who read this, the future is not set, however the past is, heed this warning, and do not make the same mistakes… Semper Fi.

/END/

Index Archives

Factions: Note that some may not exist while others may have disbanded

In the beginning of the new colonies of the Nova Stratus region, there were over 80 known factions in control of the region of space; throughout 2221 the UCAF recorded the 8 main power factions:

Pop: 46 billion, 890 worlds, unknown amount of systems

Imperial Arcadian Empire: The Arcadian Empire was once built over the ruins of a past race that utilised space FTL teleportation; the Arcadians decided to ignore trying to understand the super advanced technology and simply accepted it as a gift from fate. The Empire structured itself on militaristic and imperial beliefs since the early 5th century when the first Arcadians witnessed the first king travel through the gateways with his armies to ascend into godhood. It wasn't until much later that it was discovered to be a teleporter and began to spread news of the new king, and thus over 500 years the Arcadian Empire has stretched far even though not being FTL capable, it encompassed over 172 planets and 5 dozen systems by 2225.

Human Unification Organisation: This faction of power was infamous through the Nova Stratus records as being completely immoral in practices with medicine and genetic manipulation, especially through the early 24th century. The Human Unification was a movement and ideal based on a single mind and body, not literally but metaphorically it meant to bring the human race under one banner and to bring the colonies to improve themselves by adapting their beliefs of improvement through health and genetics, their beliefs were well met, but not widely accepted. The HUO began expansion just 75 years before 2225, it reached over 93 worlds, but had severe restrictions due to non-FTL abilities, but it could communicate to other planets through a unique technological device found on their planet, this communication allowed access to dozens of worlds, but made things arduous as it took years to convince many, and those with them were not as loyal as they had yet to show themselves until 2225.

Imperial Orussian Imperium: The Imperium of the Celestial Tundra is what Orussia essentially means, the Orussians had been formed during the 8th century and continued to evolve into the state that it is, however it is unique due to its amazing bit of genetic evolution. The Orussian people originate on their world of Icarus, frozen tundra of a planet, but they live in underground super cities constructed millennia before their existence, it was said that their gods shaped and created them to do their will. The Orussiuan people were initially suspected to have been cloned, on closer inspection that rumour had become somewhat true, in the earliest days the ICA found that the Orussians were using an alien technology that allowed them to be cloned at nearly instant speeds, it aged the clones to a certain degree before releasing them as perfect replicas, however in the years the Orussians phased out the use of clones as there was no longer a need. Orussian space from records indicated that they possessed 123 worlds.

Independent Colonial Coalition: ICC was not only a formidable power during the early colonial era, but the fact that they had the largest coalition of planets was frightening. The ICC had formed during the late 9th century as the planet of Callistan began to advance; the Callistians had unified and advanced rapidly in technology and science putting their beliefs in religion behind for idealised morals and ethics and beliefs which suited their society. The Callistians recruited a number of neighbouring systems through talk and began to advance into modern 21st century technology by early 11th century, they had covered the areas of technology faster than that of earth, however during the period which became known as the 'colonial age' the Coalition fell apart at the seams as many new colonies wished for independence. For 400 years the ICC was engrossed in civil strife and war, and eventually it fell into a dark age of space. ICC did not reform until late 18th century and only during the 19th did it fully recover to begin again with efforts to reconnect with lost ties. The ICC first developed AI in 2101, and created cybernetics in 2021. ICC planets numbered roughly 180 worlds, however many factions that splintered decreased the numbers down to 50.

Neo Koslovic Separatists: NKS was formed about the same time the ICA was formed and was kept marginally controllable, the NKS however had many flaws in ideals and beliefs and most of the reform was half hearted corrections that worked well to suit certain colonies to join, the efforts it took the NKS to form was staggering and highly costly, the NKS did not survive with its neo communist beliefs as it died out in early 2312. Planets under NKS influence were roughly 45.

United Republic of Calisto: URC was amazingly the wealthiest faction out of the Nova Stratus factions and it was the most developed faction surpassing the ICC, but it was not as expansive as the ICC or the IAE, it took the efforts of the Calisto Strata Cluster 400 years to get to a fully developed point and the URC required to buy most of the FTL technology from the ICC when they encountered each other during the late 18th century. URC was initially 30 systems and 130 worlds but developed heavily into 80 systems and 210 worlds by the end of the 23rd century.

Arian Systems Movement: ASM was notoriously a heavy left hand fascist ruled dictatorship, Arian Molvic was an imperialist ruler who believed heavily in the strength of his people, but also his blood, he was supposed to have died during the 17th century, however with certain technology he had managed to stay alive and active, his rule had been nearly absolute, if it weren't for the many new factions which opposed him during the rise of the 19th century where the ICC and the many rebellion forces began to push forwards with a war on his rule, he was not killed until a single 4 man team infiltrated his palace and managed to slay him in 2332. Number of planets under recorded history is unknown…

Independent Colonial Alliance: ICA was the foremost impressive force of Nova Stratus region because of its FTL and colonisation ability, the ICA formed in 2225 with its position on Anomia and 12 new colonies, it began to garner support over the whole region boasting new technologies from an empire far away on a planet called earth, and thus the ICA began integration in a short 25 years. It continued to expand until it was stopped by the ICC and the IAE during the late 23rd century. The ICA formed 80 worlds and moved upwards since.

Races: This must remain absolutely confidential for the security of the human race and beyond it

Fenrisson: An indigenous species connected to the world of Valence, their discovery was not made until the 15th century by ICC colonial explorer ships. The Fenris have no intentions to join the human race as they had lived in isolation for many millennia, the ICC did not attempt to force borders open and simply remained passive. The Fenris race did not join the human race until late 2400s where the planet suffered a disastrous famine caused from heat of the local star, it had a minor solar flare which lasted 3 months and destroyed over 60% of crops and caused heavy instability in the planet's ecosphere.

Timeline: 2250-2350

ICA formation in Nova Stratus was welcomed by many, the formation of the first new faction since the HUO centuries earlier, the ICA formed with the intent to bring a democratic social order and wealth to the worlds of Nova Stratus, its 110 ships and 1.1 million colonists met with the first Anomians who lived on the new capital and integrated the pre-space capable race into its own. The ICAF was later formed in 2263 in order to defend against possible raids from pirates and slavers.

ICC and the ASM began a conflict when the planet of Vekta was invaded by ASM forces, the ICC responded with a massive fleet strike and soon the far western regions of the Nova Stratus region was engrossed in a war of attrition, it would not end until late 2341.

URC and HUO form a pact of trade in order to maximise their economic standing as the ICC colonial conflict progressed, the pact would last until the rise of the Advent order and the Imperial Vindicators of 2371.

IAE makes a calculated move to engage the ICA in the south east regions of the Nova Stratus regions, the factions face off in a heavy warzone and soon finds themselves battling on equal terms. The ICA only has the advantage of space FTL and weaponry while the IAE only possess the ability to utilise ground troops. The first conflict alerts the ICA to its fragile situation and makes the ICA council partake in a future plan to protect its space.

2350-2450

The ICC becomes united as it celebrates the victory over the ASM and the death of Arian and his rule, the support for the ICC rises and changes in power gives way for change to order. The ICC begins the next stage of development as it moves to unify the western regions of Nova Stratus.

2370 marks the beginning of change as the URC encounters a mysterious unexplored region of Nova Stratus, this isolated region reveals 64 worlds under the control of the Imperial Vindicator order which had taken root nearly a millennia before. The IVO was formed by the ruling emperor Kisage Hotari his empire had been formed through the use of alien technology in 1250. The IVO keeps at distance until offers of trade and expansion are revealed, the IVO accepts in late 2371 when the URC offers to show them regions of recently conquered ASM systems.

ICAF begins rapid expansion across all front as helps in reconstituting the many ASM worlds, the expansion of the ICA grants it access to over 61 worlds and 30 systems, it had covered as much ground in technology as the ICC, but still did not possess a formidable military.

IAE began its intervention into the expansion of the ICA and the confrontation of the IVO, this move made the Nova Stratus region breach a tension point as the IVO found the intrusion an act of stupidity and challenged the IAE in 2375.

The First Colonial War-2375-2385

The ten year period saw to the end of minor instability as the IVO began its first major step into Nova Stratus, and its first major stride into forming the UCA, the IVO engaged in the war with no belief over pride or greed, but purely on the basis of honour. The war went through 50 systems and on 60 worlds; it totalled 18 million lives and 360 billion credits worth of reparations from the IAE to the IVO.

The ICA made contact with the IVO in 2378 and joined the war, the IVO granted the ICA access to military power and technology as well as access to the legendary Vindicator Order. It was at the end of the war that the ICA suggested a combined effort to unite the colonies and bring proper order to all factions with their assistance, there would no longer be conflict, maybe minor apprehension to the idea, but it would work well with the IVO.

The IVO joins the ICA and forms the ICAF…

Second Colonial War-2415-2445

The remnants of the IAE formed into the Neo Imperial Arcadian Empire, and begin another war, the URC step in to assist as hundreds of URC worlds are annexed and the ICC also join. The war goes for over 20 years and brings into play the advanced technologies of the ICC and the IVO creating the MKI Hayabusa powered armour variant suit. The war rages on until the Orussian military joins from its years of isolation. The war escalates with the defeat of the Arcadian Emperor, Magnus Derion on Theta Arcadia.

2450-2525

The UCA is formed in the aftermath of the SCW2 as the ICA no longer was capable of being independent as it had encompassed over 5 major factions of power and over 1200 planets in 2450, the UCAF begins mass expansion and colonisation up until the covenant war.

However things did not stay normal, in 2455 the UCAF was contacted by the Office of Naval Intelligence of the UNSC and was asked into aiding in possible future plans it required. The UCAF was sceptical in accepting the ONI or the UNSC as it had long since ended its ties with earth. But the role of the ONI seemed too good to ignore, the UCAF accepted the terms and conditions and integrated and formed the ONI on Anomia, Hyperion Point base.

2500

The birth of Valerie Haley and the initiation of Project Delta One-

2520

The preliminary stage of development of the Spartan Alpha project and the final steps of Project Delta One, the initiation of Project Rey and Forge

2525

Completion of all assigned task and programs…

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/Memo/ -Aniston Grey- UCAF Rey Project Director

"To those who maybe hearing this message, I warn you about what you will hear and what you will read, this is no story of great honour or faith this was survival, and I'll be damned for those who condemn the actions we took in order to save the human race from extermination at the hands of the covenant… we did not sit on our asses and do nothing, we took the war to our enemies, with fire and vigour, we shall ensure that mankind will live to see the future, even if we do not make that journey. I say this now, 'I have become death, the destroyer of worlds'."

Project Rey: The Rey project was by far the most disturbing project ever undertaken, this child known as Rey -0149 was taken as a child and then genetically cloned with a psychic membrane in his frontal lobe, his genetic augmentations were meant to keep his mind in communication with the other Rey clones, however he suffered severe trauma and went into a coma. His body was cryogenically stored and 5 more clones of him were created in order to test the psycho telepathic communications link.

The link was proven to be highly unstable as the many Rey individuals shared memories and emotions, but also their same creator, their mother. Rey then began to show signs of psychosis amongst the young group as their minds drifted into the mind of Rey-0149 and began to relive dead memories; the ONI took action to severe the link and begins a neuro-telepathic connection to a quantum core in order to avoid any future incidents.

The units after the connection began to act normally passive and engrossed in training, their controlled belief was to die serving and then to end up with their creator in the afterlife, or the quantum core in which their fragmented existence is sent to after their initial deaths, however there was a severe down side to this adaptation, the neural link made the effect of one of the units dying and sent a psycho impulse to all other units warning them of their brothers deaths and making them relieve their deaths inside their own minds. The ONI did nothing to subdue the effects and observed intent on figuring out the working mind of the young Rey clones.

The program did not end until 2601 when the Rey units reached 11,000 units; although of the 11,000 barely 1000 survive up till 2605.

Project Alpha: "They show greater promise than that of Orion, and they show much to be offered to save humanity, it is a cruel truism that I must do this in order to save lives by destroying theirs, but it is a necessary evil that is inexcusable and for what may come I shall eventually pay for it, but till then they are my children, my legacy to humanity for better or for worse, the judgement is made by us as humans to decide upon it. I did what I believed was right, even when they suffered; I did it because it was necessary. Mind, body and soul…" Valerie Haley 2525- A Choice page223

Project Alpha was named in the alpha stages of the Spartan program; it was formed after the failure of Orion and was then used as a template to test the gene-enhancements for the SPII program, Alpha was made in order to ensure that the SPII did not fail, however there were substantial differences in the two programs, the UCAF had funded enough to have 750 candidates aside from the 75 that the UNSC could only afford, the reason being was due to the sheer amount of resources available by the UCAF and the number of highly related gene-strands of precursor DNA that was in the human race in the Nova Stratus region as many humans had been originally altered by the forerunners.

The UCAF had all candidates tested and evaluated over the period of 6 years had had them all take a 3 step initiative into becoming Spartans, the fact remained that some of the chemicals and procedures were far too deadly to perform all at once and it was advised to the ONI that doing so would kill the subjects faster, the process taken by Valerie Haley proved the best option as the program had plenty of time.

The program proved fruitful if not somewhat gruelling, the program produced 690 available Spartans from the 6 year training program and it was less suspicious as to the SPII program, many children were selected from orphanages and certain locations, there was also the fact that those children taken from families were either compliant or unaware of the circumstances involved with their children. The Alpha project moved swiftly and deftly through to the final stages without flaw.

And the program reached its intended goal by the end of 2524 to begin the Ascent Program.

Project Ascent: The Ascent was meant as an inspiration to the new generation at the beginning of 2525, the program was to provide the new powered armour of the UCAF to the Spartans, and it was also to provide Project Rey with the advanced combat skeletons which had been in secret development in the Prodigal System from early 2520. The MKIII series armour was an early prototype suit required to be piloted by a single Spartan occupant, it was a streamlined variant that shaped exactly to that of their bodies, the only flaw was that the suits had bulky designs and irregular joints, it was based off of the Powered Armour of the Vindicators Order, but had to be adapted with the EOD from the Union Specialists program in order to compensate for the lack of shielding from possible enemy fire.

The Ascent Project also featured the research of the MVF-01 series suits, the Mobile Versatile Frames were made as an external support force for the Spartans, it possessed the firepower that the Spartans lacked as well as the shielding, but it could not create a body shield only a bubble area of effect shield. The MVF was first seen in use in the Prodigal system in the first month of the war, there were records that indicated further use, and then afterwards the suits became obsolete during the fall of 2535 when the Mobile Suit program took place.

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Pop: 76 billion, 1780 worlds, 1500+ systems

Timeline-2525-2555

2525- January

UCAF troops are moved to the Prodigal and Haven's Gate, suspicion to many beliefs that there would be an expedition into the further reaches of space garner much support and thus masks the hidden agenda of the UCAF HIGH COM in its pursuit of hiding the truth of the situation.

Spartan Alpha is moved to Haven 2 days later and begins the final armament procedure before they reach Seti Etha.

Prodigal final checks completed and all MVFs had been fully prepared, only 1 capable pilot is used in the program and is set out to test in field.

5th of January brings the heralds of unknown contacts in orbit over the Haven System, the UCAF respond by attempting communication, the reply is. "_Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments."_ UCAF engages in space combat, the UCAF fleets are heavily armed and manage to fend the covenant off from taking the planet on several occasions; however planet side operations revealed heavy combat and action on the planet.

UCAF marine Mitchel Walker of the Marauders independent division is called in from his previous station in orbit aboard a UCAF cruiser to help in a classified mission.

18th of January the Spartan arrive on Prodigal Eta and encounters the Rey program and Dr Haley, the Dr requires to give all Spartans the armour Ascent units and then asks for assistance in evacuating all Rey units to escape craft in order to continue program, Rey Unit 201 is left behind and ordered to self-destruct once all UCAF ships escape, the unit complies and is killed in action, the first clone casualty of the war.

21st of January, Major Mitchel arrives in the Eastern Verge, he is ordered to aid in the location of a special forerunner beacon and is tasked in retrieving the technology to be sent to ONI Section III, his mission soon spirals out of control as the facility he enters is infested with a hostile parasitic entity known as the flood, his platoon is wiped out shortly and he and 3 others manage to reach the safety of the main complex, however surrounded by the flood and the covenant he soon finds no other option aside from sending the message and ending the facility, he activates a quantum purge inside the station core and sucks the station into oblivion with the flood and the covenant.

Through the rest of the year, the covenant press to engage the UCAF, battles prove to be highly costly on both sides as they are nearly equally matched, the covenant fleet masters agree to bring forth their finest commander, grand fleet overseer Tol'ree Moteree, the devised operation heralds the name of the first exalted crusade.

2526-2531

The UCAF lose over 200 light years and over 400 planets are either destroyed or rendered lifeless, more than 8 billion die within less than 5 years and over 1.9 billion soldiers of the marauders and reserve forces. The UCAF initiate military protocol and command, all military academies were to provide youths with military mandatory classes and training, all colonies were to have an immediate defence force in order to stop any chances of the colony's demise.

The UCAF military standing was at roughly 3 billion, with 175,000 available warships and vessels.

Spartan Beta begins the recruitment of more than 1500 new Spartans and advanced MKIV armour is placed into production.

2531-2540

UCAF casualties mount as the war progresses, the UCAF colonies are cut nearly finely in half at the middle of the Nova Stratus region, 490 light years had been lost, 29 billion had been killed and a million youth a day were being killed to fight the enemy covenant on the front lines. Child soldiers from ages up to 12-17 were being recruited near combat zones and guerrilla fighting becomes fierce in the region of the now known dead zone, the Daedalus Crusades.

2535 sees the change in the war as the MS program takes hold in the western regions and the eastern flanks, the UCAF begin a massive counter offensive using MS units. The war takes a significant turn, as also the UCAF brings forth the many new Spartan troops, the Beta program brings out over 2000 troops into the war and begins mass escalation in the war.

2539 brings out the covenant's own MS program to bear and the war begins to stagnate once more, the UCAF finds itself at a kill to death ratio of 1:7, the UCAF only suffering 1 for almost every 7 of the covenant's own. The war continues as it had until 2545…

2540-2551

UCAF begins the slow build up till operation Overlord to which the UCAF would spearhead a massive attack upon the covenant planetoid to kill and wipe out the hierarchs of Divine Resolve, the Spartans receive further upgrades and new forces appear. Covenant renegades begin to harbour support and the war takes a turn for change.

2545 brings into motion the massive assault, the UCAF bring to bear over 11,000 ships upon one of the 4 command planetoids of the covenant, the mass assault breaks the covenant grasp in a major sector and kills one of the prophets. Another flees into the depths of space and is pursued by the UCAF Spartan team Sigma.

Sigma encounters a forerunner planet in the unknown regions of Nova Stratus; the planet of Reverence's Grace is discovered. UCAF forces engage in battle with the covenant, and also locate the forerunner known as the Inheritor, his revelation of the human race and the forerunners changes the beliefs of the prophet of Amity who seeks to change the covenant, Amity vanishes from the Nova Stratus region and takes with him his most loyal troops in order to reform the covenant.

The prophet of Reverence takes his forces and steals the location to a forerunner ultra-dreadnought and begins to hunt for its location, the UCAF soon follow behind to deal with the rogue covenant leader and the covenant forces soon fall into civil war. All 3 planetoids are isolated however their forces manage to build a heavy resistance to the UCAF approach and the UCAF wait until the end of the hunt for the rogue prophet in order to regroup.

2550 the final battle rages after the discovery of the dreadnought Light of Grace, Himitsuki and his fellow Spartans of the specialist division of Alpha fight the covenant and the flood in the region and successfully eliminates the prophet and destroys the dreadnought in the process, Himitsuki and his forces are reported as MIA.

UCAF forces begin operation Will of Innocence, the UCAF launches a massive counter offensive into the covenant remainders, all 3 planetoids are either destroyed or captured and the loyalists begin mass withdrawals back into covenant space. The UCAF regain the region within 1 year and begins to recolonise and re-secure planets. Total death toll, 36 billion excluding the 26 billion from the UNSC, total military personnel active, 5 billion personnel, 450,000 ships and countless resources

The war ends with the Treaty of Prodigal in 2555/1/5

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Date: 21/3/2555

Location: Outpost Ili Prime- Zone 12 Testing Area

The years had passed since anyone payed attention to the small things, and it had been a long time since anyone gave a damned care in the world about the edges of the UCAF verge colonies, out here the UCAF had completely forgot anyone even lived here. But then again it was nice and quiet but boring as hell, no trooper wished to stick it out in this backwater.

Ili was built as an observation colony to the UCAF space and it was also a research facility for minor things such as Agriculture and Weapons, it was nothing, just another day at work. Thus nobody could honestly give a damn about this place, it was a hole with water in it and there were about a few hundred others which looked the same, the HIGH COM didn't give a damn.

It was also why the UCAF worked to keep the rookies from getting slaughtered, by placing those with minimal years in a base where they'd least likely get killed. This place also doubled as a base colony for young marines who had to go through training or just side duties, there were many reasons for this hollow base, and all of them was for a either idle reason or another. But there was one word that could sum up most of the reasons into one thing for troops, INACTIVE.

This was a place for those who were no longer or could not be placed into active duty, so they ended up here, stuck together a sad little family of misfits and second class marines who've just had enough. They were just here and left out to dry, until they were relieved in the next 2 years, which in truth wasn't that bad. But still they'd just end up on another world like this one doing simple run around jobs, testing, training, talking, that was it, nothing.

And here the war was about to begin…

"ERIC! You mother f- CRASH." Daniel swore loudly.

Running out of the bunks a curly haired blonde with a grin on his face sprinted at high speeds as his pursuer came up just behind by a few meters. The blonde haired teen was of the barracks the most annoying and yet funny guy to have around, Eric Cear didn't wait around most of the time to find out about the mess though; he just loved to get into the chase. He bolted down another corridor and down a hatch and managed to put the whole pump room between him and Daniel.

He walked out of the filtration room over to his room, it was located in a special nook he called the Crow's Nest, he wasn't allowed into the barracks again after last year, the M80 rigged with confetti and compressed cream incident, it was actually meant to get Daniel instead it went off and ruined everyone's good bed sheets. So now he spent his time in his hidey hole where he could just look off into the distance, it was a box room with vents, but he made sure to clear the vents and move them accordingly to avoid any incidents. He outfitted the room with blast windows and shields as well as had a number of sniping spots, they didn't call it the Crow's Nest for nothing, and he had a full 360 view of the whole area with a Revenant R10 Anti-materiel sniper. He wasn't the best shot, but he had a good level of balance to get those shots off.

He lay down on his bed and simply rested there, he'd get into shift at 6PM, he couldn't be bothered to work in this morning weather, and the planet had a 36 hour cycle, it was really annoying, so yeah, he had to work at 6 instead of 12. He just loved his job, the best one out, running around in the repair shop getting all the guns up to scratch. It was life, but he couldn't care less, the covenant war was over, he'd be getting a transfer to a colony system soon, and one in his home system, not out in the middle of nowhere, once there he just take days to go back and forth as a military courier.

But for now, he was nobody else but a ground pounder on this rock called Ili.

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Sargent Daniel cleaned the last of the soap from his hair, Eric had pulled enough jokes for today and was going to lie around until his work shift, Daniel couldn't blame the guy, and he was just bored, as was the 1750 marines from the colonies. This job was the worst anyone could end up with, doing daily routines and getting orders to do nothing but sit on their arses.

The UCAF had let them stay here as part of their extended placement in the field, because of the covenant defeat and the victory of the UCAF, he and about 2 billion troops were now on worlds like these, others in worse condition and some much better. This world was on the edge of the Nova Stratus regions and on the Verge, or the black zones. The area was famous for research teams and long deep space missions into the unknown, but in the years since the covenant war there had been zero exploration done in 30 years, the whole area was now just a dead waste of time, that until someone decides to get back to it.

As far as anyone was concerned, ONI was the only one bothered to have set up their own base here on the planet to monitor space probes, but ships do come through and mysteriously go off and then comeback and then don't even stop to do anything, they just leave. Daniel had been suspicious about the recent activities of the ONI, but he couldn't really care less, there were about 400 other problems he had to deal with, and one was him not being able to smoke until 9PM.

Don't take him wrong, he was no addict, but the Lo Sticks worked well for those who suffer a bit of stress from time to time, and for him being a 2 year war veteran, he'd like to get some rest from the whole thing. He was 13 when he joined the war, and 15 when it ended, he was just happy he'd never have to face off with anything as ugly as a covenant harbinger ever again.

He walked down to the firing range, he would kill some time, he had needed something to do while waiting for the shift to begin. Getting into the armoury he loaded up his side arm, the M6 Icarus Variant, the pistol was a black chrome finish with adjustable stock, it had an extensive recoil system installed to stop any heavy recoil. He could fire in 4 bursts without missing a beat thanks to the recoil system; it also worked to keep the gun level with long range shots.

Getting into his firing booth he decided to go for a few plated targets, his HE rounds would make short work of those before he changed to some tracer rounds. As he fired his gun, he didn't realise who else was having a similar day…

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1st Lieutenant Jonah Ackerman worked at his desk, he was filing out reports for requisition for new materials for his base, there was an extension to increase the size of the east wing, and it needed to increase for the new troops and a new garage which required construction. Jonah once worked at UCAF HIGH COM, but one day he managed to get into more trouble than he could handle, the UCAF had him transferred into the war and he fought for 3 years until he managed to get into another transfer here.

He didn't like it any better, but it was it was at least quiet and least likely of getting him killed, he didn't really look out for anyone besides himself, he was an intel officer, not a fully seasoned marine, thus his combat skills were limited to his SMG and pistol. ONI had him moved also to keep an eye on his activities, not to mention keep him from doing anything stupid again.

But he felt that there was more to this than met the eye, there was much more, in the past 5 weeks the base had received over 2 dozen shipments of munitions and weapons, not to mention tank parts and heavy equipment, the UCAF and ONI were up to something, and he knew it, but did it have to relate to the Re-. His thoughts were interrupted when a com channel opened.

"Lieutenant Jonah here." He responded.

The image of SEC III appeared on his screen, he couldn't tell who the caller was though.  
>"Lieutenant, this is a directive from High Command on Anomia, what you hear and see is completely confidential am I understood?" The voice asked.<p>

Jonah felt a little more than sceptical now, he hesitated but replied.  
>"Yes sir."<p>

"Good, now listen here and listen carefully…"

XXXXX

Colonel Mitchel Sanders walked down from his room, the whole staff had just been called to a meeting, this time about a future operation coming within a week, and he had no idea it was even underway, which really pissed him off. The UCAF usually tells its troopers what they're going to be facing and what was going to be coming, but the white collars up in ONI decided that the marines didn't need to know, the whole operation was some massive frigging cover up of sorts, or some damned conspiracy crap that the UCAF had these guys usually do.

He couldn't care less, but it was involving his troops and that really did matter, he had 1500 troops in his force alone, and that was thanks to the armoured teams and assault armour units following up. The whole battalion plus had seen some minor action, but that was in different locations, the whole battalion had never been fully tested. Which meant that he was in charge of 1000+ greenhorns who had little clue as to what might happen in the field, but thankfully they did retain their ability at keeping together, so it might not be as bad.

Mitchel sighed, if they were going into action, the whole battalion was going in unprepared.  
>And if he was leading them, they were bound to face some serious resistance, but when he appeared through the front doorway, he was surprised to see that the room was only occupied by lieutenant and 3 other personnel he hadn't seen around here, which meant that they were from ONI command on the planet.<p>

He took a seat before the first person began.  
>"Colonel Mitchel, Lieutenant Ackerman, good to see that both of you have managed to get here in time, and on schedule, we feared that the last 2 or so years of being at the rear might have dulled your sense of timing. But it seems it was misplaced."<p>

The second person began. "Now that formalities are out of the way, we need to talk about a problem we have been facing."

"What might that be sir?" Mitchel crossed his arms.

"We have been planning for a very important assignment, and as you can imagine, not all of our plans go exactly to plan… there was a very bad hitch in one that occurred about 3 days ago at our main operation theatre, and from what the teams recovered. It wasn't pretty…"

The image of a ship appeared, it was nothing like the UCAF vessels, this was more designed as a predatory bird of prey or a very agile vessel, nothing like that of the UCAF blocky and incredibly effective assault ships. The vessel seemed to have been damaged. A MAC hole was plugged into the side of it, and Mitchel could see that the MAC had gone through a good portion of the ship, which meant that this vessel would have been destroyed possibly moments or minutes later.

"Sir, what am I looking at?" Mitchel asked.

"A new contact, a new race, one that we only encountered 3 days ago in our operations theatre for a special project, it seemed that these aliens didn't like what we were doing and decided to forcefully stop us. There was no transmission this time Colonel, they just went right ahead and fired off at the whole science team and operations division, we destroyed the vessel, but then more came, about 2 days ago. They're on course Colonel, for the only inhabited system within range."

Mitchel felt his blood freeze in his veins.  
>"You're telling me, that in possibly 1 or 2 days, we're going to have a fleet of alien ships come out from space and start assaulting the whole damn colony? Not to mention the rest of the people on this planet?"<p>

"Yes." The man replied flatly.

Mitchel didn't know whether he should be absolutely thrilled to be shooting at something or if he should be shooting at these damned spooks. He decided to just ask.  
>"What was the operation theatre you were trying to carry out sir?"<p>

"Confidential Colonel, this goes well beyond even our control, HIGH COM doesn't need any more people knowing about it as it is, and we don't even know. We only know the name, and what happened, but nothing that could have possibly provoked this race to begin attacking."

"What was the name of the operation then?" Mitchel asked.

"RELAY was the operation name, but afterwards that was it, and the teams report that it worked, but not by our hands, but by those aliens."

Mitchel felt that his stomach was going to start doing backflips; the whole universe had nothing better to do either than piss him off with useless things and other crap. But now it finally gets off its ass to throw this at him, he didn't know if he was glad or shocked. He just contemplated all that he now knew and he asked.  
>"What are to do sir? From support from the colonies to arrive, it would take a week at best."<p>

"Which is why that you and the rest of the marines will remain here with us colonel." The ONI spook said.

"What?" Lieutenant Ackerman exclaimed.

"The UCAF cannot afford to lose this world as of now, it is a strategic world in this new conflict and if this world were to fall, the UCAF colonies on our east flank would be vulnerable as well as the rest of the deep colonies. This world would be too damn a good place to use as a staging ground for an assault, which is why ONI and UCAF HIGH COM have agreed that all UCAF personnel are now active on this world, until relief can be provided." The ONI spook told him.

Disbelief was within the colonel's mind, they were damned insane to set them up against enemy troops and an unknown force of aliens, but this was how ONI worked. The colonel had no authority over the damned agents and he was being ordered by HIGH COM, his guts told him that this wasn't going to end well. Not if these aliens had their way.

"Sir, how do you plan on dealing with their fleets should they come?" He asked hiding his anger.

"A single set of ODPs have been set into formation above the world as we speak, the Halcyon pattern defence line system should be operational soon, and I've requested that 2 companies worth of your troops be sent as soon as possible to reinforce their location in orbital superiority and control." He replied.

Sanders was slightly surprised, they had called in a Halcyon mobile defence station, one of the few capable of being moved to defend outer colonial worlds. He was impressed that they had pulled such resources to help defend this world, but still it left him short of two companies worth of capable fighters. He didn't complain he knew that the stations didn't have any other military personnel besides the guys who run the whole thing and a few armed guards.

"Very well sir, I'll see what I can put together, until then, I need to speak to my marines." Colonel Mitchel said and left.

Lieutenant Ackerman followed behind him and asked.  
>"Sir, do you think it would come to another war?" He asked nervously.<p>

"Yes, there's no stopping this now, the UCAF is bound to engage in another one, and I just wonder who the hell they just pissed off though." He said candidly as they walked down to the barracks.

XXXXX

Relay 314

The turians had been chasing a group of smugglers in the past 4 months and as soon as they manage to track them, they flee towards an unmarked relay, jumping away they ended up somewhere where the council couldn't reach them, or so they thought. The turian pursuit led them into a unique situation, the smugglers were gone, but instead the turians were left with what looked like a dozen science ships working on the relay, its abrupt activation shocked them.

The turian captain could see that those working on the relay were possibly a new race, but the council policy still stood to the turians, and they would enforce it, they warned the unknown race to leave, but it seemed that nothing would persuade them to leave. The captain ordered the ships to fire on the ships, their attack caught many small vessels off guard and destroyed them, other larger vessels then departed, leaving many military ships behind, they engaged in a heavy battle, it took the whole 9 turian ships to deal with 3 unknown vessels, equal to the sizes of that of dreadnoughts.

It took a while but the enemy ships then retreated after the external construct around the relay was destroyed, the fleet called for support after the enemy ships left. Though the damage to the turian fleet was obvious, 4 destroyed, 2 heavily damaged, and only 2 remaining active.

The enemy suffered practically nothing, but still their attempts at researching the relay had been stopped, the fleet reported the incident back to the council network and to turian high command, the officer in charge was awarded a medal for his brave efforts in the face of adversity and in trying to uphold law. The council was highly sceptical a person even deserved such an award for instigating a war, but they held their peace.

Now the council space was in active conflict the turians began to exact recruitment, thousands saw their chance to help in this upcoming conflict. Other races saw this as a good way to stimulate their stagnating economy, since the last war had passed hundreds of years ago. The council was slightly apprehensive about the war; they read the reports from the turians. However they were unsure if they should attack a race which utilises many large vessels.

The turian councillor however was adamant about the skills that the turian forces could show and said that all would be fine. The council figure had been waning in power as more races believe that the council didn't have the ability to fight back, the batarians used this as an excuse to increase their activities, however thanks to this conflict the turians were willing to stand in the name of the council to show that the council forces were highly unlikely to lose this fight.

XXXXX

Location: Outpost Ili

The whole base had been put into high alert; the main Winter Contingency had been activated, all data files on the UCAF colonies were wiped along with all the star charts and any record of the UCAF activity. Any and all ammo packs were being unloaded, the tanks were being rolled out with the first armoured company, the troops were almost prepared, after Colonel Sanders had sent 4 platoons out into the orbital defences he had prepared all the marines down on the ground.

He had been working round the clock to get the troops in position to give the unknowns a taste of real hell, but still if things went awry, the marines were going to be in for a long haul. He had the battalion commanders into place, making sure that they remembered what to do, if worse comes to worse surrender, but don't give up the fight unnecessarily, he had all the armoured teams get ready to rush the possible enemy assault.

He listed the vehicles that they had on site for the battle:

6 scorpion MBTs

14 Warthogs FAVs

4 Cougar APCs

16 Mongooses

4 Fox Mobile Artillery Cannons

6 Hornets

4 Pelican Gunships

4 Falcon Fighters

2 Aires Gunships

1 Vulture

1 HAV Vulcan M10

And down in their testing equipment, a single Mobile Versatile Frame- Exoskeleton MKV- the pilot was an android known as Kale.

They had more than enough firepower to deal with whatever these aliens could throw at them. Sanders just prayed that the troops have better luck than the armoured formations and support though, the troops were going into the thick of the fighting. It was then he received a communications, it was from Anomia.

A message sent from HIGH COM: Priority ALPHA

[Protocol AEGIS has been initiated, time of arrival 1 week]

The message ended there, but Sanders knew of what had just happened, the bastards really were planning on going to war, because Aegis, the AEGIS, was going to be used. He had seen a little of what the Aegis unit could do and he was terrified and yet relieved that they were sending her into deal with the attack here, but it worried him that they'd start using the more advanced elements of the UCAF in such short time. He had expected a whole division of helldivers to be moved here.

But one good thing for him is a very bad thing for anything alien.

XXXXX

The turian fleet was moving into place, their scouts had reported a nearby system with definite subspace signals emanating within the range of them. This meant that their unknown race was waiting there, and possibly either a colony or their homeworld, the council wasn't going to send any support just yet, unless further evidence was provided that these beings would back down to force, this meant that the turians had the ground until they saw reason to aid.

The turian officers all felt that the coming battle would prove most effective in garnering support not to mention morale, but they didn't need to get too cocky, their enemies were one that they hadn't seen before, and would more than likely fight them. The fleet began to charge up their engines and begin FTL, they'd face whatever was coming, and they'd face it well, besides what could a bunch of primitive beings possibly possess that the turian military couldn't hold off?

XXXXX

(Added…)

ONI: Pinnacle Base

Aaron processed the data from the original operation initiated by ONI, his processors compiled all data about the relay, and it was amazing that the UCAF had discovered such a thing just sitting there. But what perturbed his interests was the method which the UCAF used in finding the relay. ONI had been keeping him in the dark about where the data for the location came from, only that it came from a marine who had been in charge of a very special mission a long time ago.

This seemed to make Aaron feel nostalgic in a sense, but not in a normal way, more cautious. It was weird it was like he had heard what the ONI had told him before. He shrugged the thought from his processors and suddenly noticed something; the lights on the sensor net had lit up.

XXXXX

Commander Jason Macy was in charge of the planetary defence of Ili, he had years of naval experience and defensive training, he also knew how the Halcyon defence fort worked like the back of his hand. The entire MDP would hammering anything that got too close for comfort, being armed with 1 Ultra MAC which spits out a 10,000 ton slug at the speed of light and 24 battery rails and mass driver cannons, the whole fort could fend off even the most powerful covenant vessels, if they were bothered to remain in range. The station also features a number of missile pods and point defence turrets with an energy shield system installed across the whole station, its powerful enough to withstand more than 200 strikes from covenant plasma lances and direct energy strikes.

The station was in length of 5km top of the cannon to the vents, and by breadth from the port side guns to the starboard side was 2km, the station had about 750 personnel and plus the 200+ marines from the planet made up for internal defences, the external should have been about 4 escort corvettes and 2 frigates with 1 cruiser and about 80 fighters stored in its hangar bays, but it seemed that naval support wouldn't be in for a week except the single frigate that had arrived from ONI, they were on their own.

However Commander Macy wouldn't be so easy to take down, he had planned out for some extra defences to be placed around the station, 200 mines were within range of the station, all hidden to enemy sensors, and only the UCAF knew how to detect them. The UCAF would be able to fend off the attacks for a while until support arrived, or until they were all killed.

Macy watched from his command station, the CIC was a buzz of activity as young men and women worked to get everything prepared in time, it was a short notice to pull out the whole station from its original position above Shanxi, but they stated it was necessary. Within any day the enemy fleet was expected to launch its attack, and Macy was the only thing between them and the small colony outpost, which didn't put as much pressure as it did for a capital system with hundreds of millions of lives on the line than just a few thousand.

It was roughly 2 days after the initial orders that the sensors picked up the incoming enemy fleet, they dropped just outside of their range and was closing fast, and it was hammer time.  
>"Bring the MAC gun to full charge, I want hot barrels. All point defences are to be regulated between enemy missiles and fighters, and get all missile pods loaded with Magnus Hell Fire missiles, cluster class ones to deter enemy approach." He ordered.<p>

Alarms across the station rang for war, and the marines on the planet prepared for what would come.

XXXXX

Daniel woke with a start as alarms began to ring, that was a general alert for incoming enemy forces, he shrugged it off as a drill, why the hell would someone start a drill at 3 in the morning? He just hated these days, they usually meant that there was something happening at 5 or 7 not 3. But he couldn't care, he was tired, so he drew up his uniform and placed on his full marauder gear, he'd have to ask question later.

There had been rumours that another alien race may have been on approach, but what the hell were the chances of it ever occurring? It took like 500 years for them to find the covenant, why would anyone else appear? Jogging down to his locker he got his helmet and combat gauntlets and brought out the AR-Carbine, his favourite gun, a single semi-automatic with 30cal bullets and the lightest recoil gun ever modifiable, with an underslung 25mm high explosive shell designed to rip apart enemy armour like paper. His gun also featured the newest mass driver instalment and had ionic tipped rounds capable of blowing apart enemy shields and armour.

He strolled out the front door down to his squad, he could see that Eric and the others had assembled at their designated position, a bunker just outside the range of the courtyard with range of the whole simulation battlefield, it was the perfect place to mount a defence because of the fact that every marine knew it like it was their own backyard, which it literally was.

He saluted lazily to his squad and said sarcastically.  
>"So, is everyone present for this wonderful evening?"<p>

A chorus of 'yes' came through with some nods, which told him, they didn't care as much as he did, they just took their positions and waited, snipers on the roofs of their nests. And the others scattered around their perimeter to look out for anything moving, this drill happened every fortnight and wasted a good 3 hours, but no one complained, that was military life out here on a border outpost.

He took sights of the surrounding area, the same old training course, the place hadn't changed much in the past 2 years he'd been stationed here, and it was unlikely to change, whatever the colonel cooked up wouldn't be worth getting excited over. He just kept his gun trained on the area ahead; it wasn't until Eric called over the com.

"Hey Daniel you might want to look up right now…" He said.

"Dude I know that you're going to pull one of those 'took the bait' jokes." Daniel replied.

Eric replied sounding more urgent.  
>"Daniel seriously look up at the fucking skies… there's seriously something going on."<p>

He sighed.  
>"Fine as soon as I look up I'll put my gun up your ass."<p>

And he did as the private asked him to do, he took a lazy gaze upwards, but then he stopped, his eyes were no longer lazy, and he wasn't the only one looking up. The whole battalion was looking into the skies for what they were expected to arrive, and they could see it. Thousands of lights glimmered in the skies; it was a sight to see, one that haunted the young Sargent's memories. The whole night sky was laminated by explosions and fire exchange from space.

"Sweet and merciful forerunner…" One marine prayed.

The colonel then alerted them.  
>"All units prepare for enemy assault, prepare to repel incoming hostiles, ETA 10 minutes."<p>

XXXXX

Casey hadn't imagined how the aliens had this many numbers, but they were desperate, the first waves were fighters which the CIWS wiped out completely, AA missiles and guided missiles along with the many point defence turrets were devastating the enemy fighters like flies. And then the enemy began their approach, a dozen ships appeared and began to pelt the station with as much fire power as they could muster. However the advanced reflective shields and barriers held the attacks at bay, and with that, the enemy ships now found themselves in quite a situation, the first MAC round destroyed 3 and crippled 2 and soon more ships poured in from FTL.

Casey watched as the enemy fleet desperately attempted to punch the shields by sheer force, they didn't understand the UCAFs ability to withstand anything up to a supernova that or merciless enemy numbers. The station defences began to blare, the internal AI called out.  
>"All troops prepare to repel enemy boarders, repeat, all troops prepare to repel enemy boarders."<p>

Marines rushed to each docking port and defence arm. Machine turrets and combat drones along with security personnel manned each choke point while the marines secured the hangar bays and critical zones. The marauders had missiles launchers and a few other neat little toys from their use during the war; they'd finally be put to good use.

The first boarders appeared in the starboard hangar bays, shuttles the shapes of stubby bricks with strange engine shapes landed and started to drop troops off while a couple of gunships also followed in to cover them. The marauders opened up with all that they could muster, ion explosive shells and heavy 75 calibre machine guns ripped into everyone that stepped out from the dropships and gunships, the aliens were taken aback, being cut to shreds wasn't something that they were used to.

The gunships provided some cover, but it was insufficient in covering all the troops disembarking, bodies piled up as high calibre rounds and devastators ripped them apart some who made it to the crates and scarce cover ducked as much as they could to avoid being decapitated by laser and sniper fire. Those who were unfortunate to be standing to close to the marauders were torched by flamethrowers and incinerators.

But still they piled out into their line of fire, troops rushing in by the dozens and soon hundreds, one marine managed to hit one and watched as the bullet cut through 2 more, but still 6 came and replaced the fallen alien. This fight was becoming a slaughter house. Heavy auto turrets made a mess of things quickly, but still more poured in. Soon the marines were being forced back slowly, the auto defences would hold them back long enough for the marines to fall back from the overrun area.

XXXXX

Casey watched as reports flooded in, the aliens had spent the last 9 waves expending them on the hangar bays, there were reports that the whole area was being flooded by corpses stacked over knee high, that was an interesting if not troubling thought. The aliens were determined to break the defences of the UCAF, but this meant sacrificing their own to get through, there were even more troubling reports that there were also psychic like entities within their ranks as well determined to break through.

He could see now that he had no choice, he'd have to call in the adepts to cover the squads and platoons with shields and increased protection to hold the lines. But the other part of the bad news was that the alien ships had now broken past their defence line, they had brought out an estimated 200 drop ships and gunships to the planet, and soon the Colonel would be fighting on his own planetside.

Casey didn't like this, soon they'd either be overrun or dead, he'd hold, but it was still going to take time for the UCAF, they just needed to hold.

XXXXX

This was nothing like facing the covenant, these guys were trying a more scattered attack, they were trying to land their troops before they tried to directly attack the base, and this was a far more effective tactic, if not slightly flawed. The UCAF missile batteries and long range AA guns had a full spread on the enemy drop ships and gunships, there were also rail batteries keeping sight on anything, which meant that a direct assault upon the base would not be advisable without using artillery to hamper the defenders or keep the batteries guessing.

When Daniel saw the first drop ship he ordered the squad to wait and called in their rocket teams to keep their sights until the drop ship landed, the covenant phantoms had shields and the only time they dropped was during a drop, so it made sense that firing on the enemy while they disembarked would have been smarter. As soon as it made its drop, the forward rocket team fired a HEAT round into the door of the drop ship; the troops had moments before they were completely engulfed by the fireball.

The drop ship exploded brilliantly in orange flames and shattered to pieces over the whole area, the marines didn't celebrate just yet, there were about another 10 which landed nearby. Daniel knew that this was it, there was nothing to hold them back and nothing to fear, their enemies were going at them, and they'd kill them all.

Eric shouted and fired.  
>"Contact!"<p>

The barrage of AR rounds and heavy machine guns and snipers rang out across the area as the enemy came rushing from different corners and edges of the surrounding terrain, there was only fire and smoke as weapons turned the street into a killing field. Bits and pieces of the hostile aliens were scattered across the earth as they ran into the line of sight, if the bullets didn't kill them, the HE launchers would. The impacts blew apart whole squads and individual troops like they were made of paper, only blood stains and decapitated limbs and viscera covered the earth.

Daniel watched as his platoon ripped into the aliens without mercy, sure they were greenhorns, but that didn't mean they couldn't shoot. Eric was getting headshots from his position while Daniel used his AR to pick out enemy advances, he called in artillery support when the fighting intensified, but he wasn't beat yet.

The battle in the skies raged without end as fighter dogfights blazed over everything, bullets and lasers and missiles went from left to right. This was war, and war had come to the UCAF once more. Now it was a matter of time…

XXXXX

88th Helldivers- AKA Cerberus Regiment

Jack's helmet was matte black, with the skull white markings etched into the forward visor with paint, the death mask made the UCAF helldivers the most terrifying and demoralising enemy the UCAF could ever unleash upon the covenant. The most famous of the helldivers though were that of the 88th, Jack's regiment.

The 88th had been around since the beginning of the war, 30 years ago, they had fought on every front, on every field and on every battle that the human mind could possibly imagine. They entered the pits of hell and came back and even then they weren't satisfied, they went back a second time, and faced the covenant dreadnoughts and still they glorified more war. That was the reason why the helldivers were so great, so grand so devastating, absolutely terrifying.

The other reason for the helldivers was because of their skill in the field, and the years of experience and brotherhood, it made them strong, their bonds kept them together through most of the war and granted them the ability to continue to fight even against impossible odds.

Jack had led them for 30 years and he'd lead them until their end, and now back to what should matter, his role in this new war with this alien race… ONI had ordered him to move out with the Aegis 07 model to get to the field as soon as possible, clear the ground for the rest of the UCAF military and secure a strong point and ensure that the relay does not fall absolutely into enemy hands. These aliens were not allowed any sort of mercy, kill on sight. His orders were clear, and his mind was set, he'd do as he was ordered, and may the forerunners have mercy upon those who stood against the dogs of Hades, the dogs of war.

XXXXX

(I've begun a full scale update of the whole story, and this is just the beginning. The next 4-6 chapters might be updated in the next 3 days.)


	2. Chapter 2

CH2

XXXXX

The war for the new Era

XXXXX

Is it right to fight for life? Is it right to fight for love? What is worth fighting for? Where shall we stand when that call is made?  
>Major General Allan Williams- 2555<p>

XXXXX

Ili- Base Outskirts…

Sargent Daniel ducked as he fired his AR, the heat coils flew out of the chamber, he had spent the last 30 minutes holding back enemy waves, his platoon had held out in the training outskirts, the whole place filled with testing buildings and empty shells. This was where the war was being fought, inside of a testing place for training, how ironic, using the fake city as a real warzone. But to snap back to what really mattered, Daniel popped his head from cover and fired 3 sharp bursts of his AR, each round hit the moving alien troops, one had his head blown clean off from the AR rounds. The others rushed back into cover, they sprayed sporadic fire in his direction, but none seemed to hit.

He watched as Eric arrived, he was reloading his AR and keeping his sights on the enemy, the rest of the platoon was continuing its constant retaliation and defence. These aliens either had no idea how to break through, or they weren't fully prepared to yet. Daniel couldn't honestly care, but this situation would be turning bad very soon, they were all running low on ammo. He had cleared half his ammo, and he was starting to run on half of the rest, if they didn't get resupplied soon they'd be in danger of having to fall back.

He called into the Colonel.  
>"Sir, this is Epsilon Platoon, running low on ammo, we need a resupply at our coordinates."<p>

"Roger that Epsilon platoon. Falcon flights are inbound you need to hold for another 30 minutes for them to drop ammo off at your location." Colonel Sanders replied.

Daniel had no time to thank the colonel, he rolled around and fired his underslung 50mm grenade launcher, and the shell blew through the window of a building about half a block down from him. The enemy squad had been prepping a rocket team to attack. Daniel hoped those falcon supply drops arrived, at the rate that they were going, the aliens had no intentions to stop throwing themselves at the heavily fortified positions of the UCAF.

XXXXX

Orbit over Ili, the ODP was sending out fire from left to right, the enemy ships seemed to try and overwhelm the defences with tremendous numbers, but still the Halcyon was too stubborn to die from the enemy ships. But sadly not all was well on the interior of the massive mobile ODP, the troops were being slowly forced further back into the exterior of the station as hundreds swarm into the defences and defenders.

Marines fight for every inch of ground, the whole area becoming a killing field, bodies were stacked against the walls and doorways, the aliens had been relentless in their assault, and the UCAF had just been as relentless in its defence. Down in some corridors whole battles were still being fought for, carbines and machine guns were used to hold back the oncoming tides of enemy troops, but they were running out of ground and ammo.

The internal replication units could only produce so many things at one time, ammo, food etc. And thanks to the battles the replicators had become overtaxed to supply all the marines, running only at 20% of their initial ammo count. Grenades and short ranged missiles were being used to slow down progress, but the enemy was willing to fight for every inch, and by sending hundreds at the marines.

There was also the progress of the mysterious aliens with psychic like abilities, however the UCAF had their own units such as these, but they were actual psychics, the adepts had been countering very well. However that didn't solve the problem that in the past 5 hours the station was now under threat of being overrun, but that didn't deter the marines from defending their position with their lives.

It was only as Casey had finally had to defend the CIC, the first small strike teams of turians had by passed the main corridors and managed to gain entrance by maintenance shafts and small engineering sections of the station. The CIC was attacked with ferocity, but the commander and his staff held their ground, firing off at the team to control the station, if worse came to worse he'd evacuate and leave the AI, Iona, to take control.

XXXXX

Colonel Sanders watched as the battle progressed, the hostiles had managed to land over at positions over the testing field, an estimated 5000 and increasing had gone and pushed against his marines. But now things had taken a slow turn for the worst, the aliens had managed to bring down heavy weapons and a lot of tanks. A whole division was fighting the scorpion teams and cobra positions, he doubt that they could take any further beatings.

Air superiority was only being held up barely, the falcon squadrons had been engaged with hostiles and were running low on ammo and missiles, they were using what remained of their gauss shells and laser attachments, but that didn't mean they'd last any longer. The AA batteries on his left flank had been overrun by hostiles not 30 minutes before. His heavy weapons teams on his right flank had been engaged by APCs and a lot of enemy troops.

It was time that he called out the single weapon that even the covenant feared, the MVF-AA MKV pattern suit; he'd make sure that they'd never get any further.

XXXXX

Kale was awoken by the steam coming off from his body, it had been 3 months since his last battle, which was over at Callistan, he was put into cryo stasis for recommissioning on another front, now that he was awake that meant that his services were required once more. He moved out of the stasis pod, he was not greeted by the usual military engineer or overseer; instead he was greeted by an AI.

"Welcome back unit Kale 223-445, your commissioning has been passed as of today, please your assistance is required immediately. You will need to gather your gear in hangar 3, the MKV is waiting for you, your skin suit is in the locker next to the door, I will mark it on your retinal HUD." The AI stated.

He received a blue marker to where the location of his skin suit was, he walked over and received his skin suit and placed the suit on. His neural feeds worked to keep his body up to date with how much time had passed since being in stasis. Once all was set he hurried off. The HUD pointed him down a flight of stairs and down passed a sterile room, through there he saw the casualties in the lower areas. The troops had been completely hammered from being caught in the fight.

He wondered what could have possibly caused all this damage, but he did not dwell on the details, he had more important things to do, attending his duties by eliminating the enemy came as a priority. As he arrived in the hangar, he saw that there was just his suit, it was loaded and on active standby, they really must have needed him to break through.

Jumping into the command seat he was greeted by the neural attachments and spinal seating, the machine attached to his body and began fitting itself around him. He was synced by the internal systems in moments; he'd be ready to take the fight to the enemy in seconds. He watched as the suit was lifted from the 3rd hangar bay and brought into launch pad 2, he'd catapult into the field and begin his assault in the left flank, his HUD had received all the info it needed.

He eyed his console and watched as the systems prepared him, he gained control and was cleared for launch.  
>"This is Unit Kale launching into the field." He stated.<p>

His suit moved forwards as his rear ventral thrusters activated and lifted him out into range of the left flank, he'd engage in the battle to come and finally be able to find something else to do rather than sit in eternal oblivion. He watched as he moved through the air, he marked his position and rocketed off into the direction of the battle, he came up into visual range, the mysterious armoured troops with talons were firing at the UCAF marines.

The MVF was one thing that many covenant feared, one for it being able to demoralise the enemy with a thunderous crash. Kale brought the suit down upon the nearest enemy squad and flattened them, the whole area was deafened by the crash, it stunned the hostiles long enough for him to fire on them with his attached M50 Vulcan machine gun, the chain gun rattled off as it tore through the enemy with ease, blue blood and body parts was all that became of a whole squad.

The enemy began to turn their fire away from the marines and focused on Kale, but to their shock and horror, the suit's energy shields deflected and stopped all the attacks, Kale was then just ripping into them without pause. One attempted to run at him with grenades, but he grabbed the unfortunate creature and then crushed him, he grabbed another and activated his flame thrower, the alien screamed in agony as its flesh melted.

Kale dropped the corpses and went on his attack; the enemy had begun to break rank as he tore through them, the MVFs were always best in hand to hand use, if not a bit jerky with movements. Kale however found no trouble in beating his way through a whole platoon within moments, he just needed to clear this place for the marines to hold on to it again, and afterwards the artillery teams could cover the area once more to keep the enemy from advancing any further.

XXXXX

Daniel could have sworn that the aliens didn't have the strength to pull off one more desperate attack, but it seemed that his assumptions had been wrong. They were about to break their lines in a matter of hours now, and if he didn't figure out some daring means to keep the scale faced bastards away from hitting the main complex. Daniel guessed that he'd have to hold anyway, what else could he do? He was just about surrounded by now.

[Cue the Halo Remix Hail 117- By Mother Goat]

Daniel reloaded his AR Carbine, he and the rest of the platoon was just going to have to try their last counter measures, the bayonets. Eric arrived in time for the plan, Daniel yelled out. "FIX BAYONETS!"

The troops hit the side switches to their rifles to release their bayonets from their sheaths, the sharp clicks and clacking gave Daniel an assurance that they all knew what was coming next. 40 against 200 or so aliens, these were good odds, the aliens didn't have any knives or blades on them, he guessed that they relied more on their range than their close combat skills. The UCAF however had more CQC and close combat training than any covenant trooper which meant that they'd hammer them in hand to hand battles.

The aliens were barely 10 meters away, which gave the UCAF a clear run and gun at them, Daniel looked around at the troops that remained. All battered and bruised, but not dead. The tension held until he yelled as he removed his pistol and long sabre.  
>"For the ALLIANCE CHARGE!"<p>

The marines yelled in unison of the same words and jumped over their trench lines, there was one thing that terrified even the covenant, the legendary blade run of the marauders, one of the most bloodiest things that could ever happen in a CQC fight, bayonets were made specifically to render armour and shields useless and hack through even the best of the covenant's forces.

To the unwitting turians this seemed more like a suicide run, they opened up on the short distance, rifles bucking as they fired at the wall of human mettle that was now approaching at frightening speeds. The marines closed the distance so quickly, the turians had barely enough time to realise that they'd never take them down.

Daniel who led the charge skewered the closest hostile with the tip of his blade; the sword ripped through the armour of the alien and like butter came through the body clean. It was then that the other marines hammered into the aliens without mercy, blades ripped through armour and flesh. Daniel fought along with Eric as he decapitated another alien. One marine who charged had the alien attempt to grab the blade in panic, the blade went through the hand and then cut through from the palm and then the marine kicked the alien into the wall before putting the bayonet through its throat.

The air was now filled with the terrified screams and yells of death, aliens were being butchered in hand to hand combat mercilessly. The aliens had no close combat knives or even protection to stop the marines from hacking them to pieces, and those who had something didn't effectively use them. The marines slashed and hacked their way through almost half of the alien troops by the time reinforcements arrived.

Daniel fired into another alien through its head, he turned about and smashed the head of another with the butt of his rifle and then removed his pistol and fired in a burst of 3 rounds, the alien's head was pumped into blue mash. He watched as Eric drove his knife into the neck of another alien and then proceeded to snapping the neck of another; the whole scene was bloody as blood was raining over the whole area.

A few shouts and soon the aliens were running from sight, they were pulling out rapidly, Daniel watched as they ran in whole droves, the wounded left behind as the marines continued hacking their way through. Daniel smiled, they had won. But sadly the universe had a cruel way of changing fate. He and his troops heard something, large approaching fast. The area around the corner was filled by the sight of a large tank; it had a whole company backing it up with more aliens arriving.

Daniel and his marines watched as their last stand was made, Daniel never got to see what happened next, a loud explosion knocked him down as the tank fired. Eric yelled something and soon his vision was covered in blood, his ears rung. He could feel his blood pooling, what had he done to deserve this? He'd never know that answer, as he soon faded into darkness.

XXXXX

Kale arrived as he heard over the coms that the middle ground had fallen, the aliens had drawn out the remaining platoon into a suicidal run, and now the middle was overrun. He changed his position as the left flank recovered from the battle; he used his main thrusters to boost his way over the whole training city. He arrived to the sight of the aftermath; bodies lay in whole piles, some marines and mostly others being alien.

He pulled his M50 out began to fire, but he was met stubbornly by armour, the enemy had begun to get desperate, they were driving all their armour tanks into the streets to cover the ground. He was now being faced off with heavy weapons, he pulled out the Magellan M180 Anti-Tank Recoilless Rifle, and he pumped out 5 shots with the cannon. The tank on the other side of the field exploded in a fireball and the troops around it were vaporised by the high explosive shells.

But still the enemy pressed their advance, whole companies were being thrown in his direction with the amour. As long as they didn't have a ion cannon his shields would last a very long time, he countered their advance with overwhelming firepower, chain guns and missiles flew at the enemy advance, whole squads engulfed in balls of fire or explosions which rocked the earth.

Rail rounds and cannons smashed into his shields, mass accelerators pummelled his barriers, but he wouldn't stop them, they couldn't break him, not yet. He continued to stand even when missiles and explosives hammered into him. The purpose of this was to see if he was right, the end was made by those who sought for it, but was this really it?

He couldn't break from this position or the base would have been left open for attack. He knew that the aliens were determined to break past him. But he wouldn't let up, he knew that this would just be as bad as committing suicide, but he couldn't care less, the aliens would either kill him, or they'd all die by the time he ran out of ammo.

Kale would like up to the others, Rey and the clones would always be a part of the suits, and he knew that they always would. Which is why he was living up to their expectations, he'd see mother at the end… like he always did.

XXXXX

The turian commander who had been watching the whole fight was just horrified, they had just been absolutely ravaged by the attack, yet they were still holding out. He had just seen the death of over a whole regiment in the past 30 minutes, and then he watched as the bodies just piled up, he counted at least 10,000 deaths on his force.

'By the spirits.' He thought.

The troops soon reported of armoured walking suits which slaughtered an entire division of 1500 by the right flank of their advance, which now blocked the middle ground. How they could do this insane feat of bravery? He couldn't imagine what the troops thought, but this was insane, even on his scale of soldiers he commanded, they'd never do something so reckless; he saw the suicide charge which slaughtered his whole battalion in the forward advance, and then the devastation of the right.

There were actually stripes of blue which now were visible in each of the passage ways in which his troops had been advancing. The shock was still there, blood literally ran across the very earth, he tried to not think about how many had just been sent to their deaths, but this was shocking to say the least.

The battles in space had been no better, he hear that 4000 had been sacrificed to take the platform, 12 ships had been destroyed and over 17 had been damaged, they were going to run out of troops by the end of the whole thing if they didn't manage to take hold soon, they'd have nothing left to hold with.

XXXXX

Casey watched as the CIC was packed with wounded and dying, the battle had gone beyond the 5 hour mark and now the aliens had fully surrounded the CIC only the emergency escape pods remained. They couldn't escape, that was much of fact, the frigate managed to stay within the nearby system, but the enemy fleet was too close to send out a rescue team. The ODP was lost, and the only thing left was 2 options, head planet side, which was no better, or self-destruct the station.

He would have honestly wished not to blow up the only thing holding back the enemy fleet, but now it just seemed almost hopeless, the aliens were at his doorstep and he couldn't hold the CIC any longer. This raised the question on how the troops were to escape from this situation. He decided that the crew would hold and left the marines take their chances on the ground. But the lieutenant in command had decided to be stubborn and hold off on such an action.

"Sir, with all due respect, the fuckers will blow us to shits by the time we even hit landfall, and when we do, they'll have us surrounded, the base is on its last legs from what the report just came in. We need to all go, or we all die."

Casey admired this trooper's resilience in the face of the enemy.  
>"Fine, I've got a plan, but it's not going to be easy…"<p>

XXXXX

The turians blew through the final blast doors into the CIC; there they found the room, empty? The CIC was abandoned, nothing but dried blood stains and empty casings, where had the enemy command staff gone? The room then changed colour as the room had begun to glow with emergency sirens, and soon all the doors locked down. The turians found themselves trapped, this wasn't good.

"SELF DESTRUCT INITIATED"

The room began a timer, the numbers ran downwards in rapid succession, they watched in horror as their lives flashed by in moments.

The escape pods were timed with launching within just moments of the blast, they'd drop down with most of the debris and make landfall a few hundred kilometres from the base, and there they'd wait for the all clear to make their move. Commander Casey didn't die as easily as others, he'd live to fight until the end, and he'd guarantee that.

XXXXX

Colonel Sanders had heard about the loss of Major Sargent Daniel, Eric had arrived to bear the bad news, the marines were running on their last ammo reserves, spending the most of the morning and afternoon clobbering the aliens from ever passing through any further, the troops were nearing exhaustion. They needed reprieve from the battle to secure losses and prepare for the rest of the fight. But with the enemy continuously dropping in further reinforcements the marines were forced to hold out with what they had left.

6 days till support arrived and Sanders was expected to hold out till then? Hah, that was a joke, the marines wouldn't be able to survive for another 12 hours, they had to fall out of the area, a rigged defence system would cover their retreat and allow them to fall out into the wilderness, there they'd have better luck waiting out the enemy.

550 marines and 200+ personnel was all that was left, wounded and dying would have to be left behind to cover the retreat. Kale was lost, his suit being damaged at the main grounds, he'd have to be left behind with the others, most of the armour teams and whatever was left of the air support would have to follow the escape.

Sanders checked over his list once again, he made sure that none of the critical members of the remaining troops were left out. He also took note on all those who were still left alive within wounded, the damned aliens wouldn't dare think that killing them and acting as though nothing happened would be tolerated with him. After all his thoughts were secured he ordered the retreat at the dead of night, they'd have full cover through the North exit of the base.

XXXXX

5 days later…

The defeat of the UCAF battalion and colonial defence left the turians breathing a sigh of relief, except that this victory was hollow. The UCAF had in fact cost them dearly, for the 1500 casualties the UCAF suffered, the turians had suffered 14,000. They were left with a very bitter taste of war; the war with the UCAF was going to prove more than just a challenge.

The council had been thankful that there were some communications with the UCAF, if not absolutely useless communication, the captured POWs refused to talk. Only some minor bugs picked up random talks and useless information. The UCAF knew better also not to allow any technology to fall into enemy hands, explosives were rigged to the main labs and armoury, and all advanced weapons were disposed of before the turians arrived.

Traces of the ionic bullet designs remained, but the product itself was proving a puzzle for the salarian science teams to uncover. Weapons also proved to be crude yet devastatingly effective in battle. The UCAF armour that was used for personnel had also become somewhat of a mystery as they showed no sign of construction or any known format of design. The computer systems had been wiped and the communications networks were destroyed, the whole base had been left useless, the turians war with this new species had revealed nothing.

But on the positive side to all the failures, the salarian research teams working within bio technology had discovered that the UCAF personnel had a unique genetic alteration, one that would not be noticed by many. The salarians discover that the UCAF utilised many genetic accelerators and additions to allow them greater combat skills and capabilities.

The Citadel Council is troubled by the discovery and calls in many corporations to counter these specific altercations. Meanwhile the UCAF plans to retake the planet.

XXXXX

Daniel woke up, his head groggy from his resting on the floor, he had been in poor condition for a few days now, the aliens he discovered called themselves Turians, and they didn't like what they saw. He and the surviving marines were being held inside an empty gym that was cleared out. The troops were placed there to be monitored until the turians saw fit to have them moved.

He had learnt a few things about what had happened since his fateful battle, the turians had won out the marines with sheer number, but they had neglected much. The guerrilla warfare being waged in the jungles had been costly and the marine survivors were holding out. And support would be arriving any day now, once then they'd take back the planet and force the turians back.

There was only 1 problem, their support came with only 1 regiment and 1 advanced UCAF android unit. There would be no fleet action to take back the planet; the group heading in was here for ONI.

XXXXX

88th Helldivers Cerberus Regiment

Major Jack had read over his orders, it was not what he liked, but he didn't question it, the UCAF had ordered him and his teams to recover an important item from the abandoned ONI facility on Ili, it had been left in the wake of the enemy attack and needed to be moved to a secure pad for extraction. He and his regiment were there for only that reason and to provide temporary relief for the marauders who were stranded on the planet. They'd only cover the basics before heading out to Shanxi.

None of the cloak and dagger tactics sat well with the Major, he had seen his fair share of what those experiments and side track missions were about, the forerunners and it always had been. This was nothing new, the site was significant because it was a forerunner beacon, and one with infinite information on all of the known UCAF bases and outposts and records, that couldn't be allowed to fall into anyone's hands.

And this also explained why an Aegis class android was being sent into the field; the cybernetic control systems could control all information within the forerunner node and disable them if necessary. This granted the UCAF time in case the mission failed. ONI had left about a whole base underground with over 400 known defences, from what had been gathered, 200 had been set off and the rest waiting for someone stupid enough to.

The aliens had been desperate in their search for the ONI discovery which only accelerated their plans to move against the aliens immediately. It was now the final day and they'd be dropped into the field, their target was set, the forerunner artefact and nothing else.

Once Jack and his marines had been prepared they loaded themselves into the Javelin HEVs, these were sharp missile shaped pods designed to release in either atmosphere or impact into the ground. The pods had years of use throughout the war. The pods were used to punch through enemy defences to land the helldivers behind enemy lines or into them to grant them the best advantage. The pods themselves had a multi shield loaded with a reactive plating to reduce possible heat, and if necessary the pods release in the atmosphere if the pods overheat and compensate the marine by releasing them in cryo-gel coating to cool them as they descend.

The marines were quickly loaded into their pods, 500 of the first regiment would spearhead the attack followed by the Aires assault gunboats and gunships, then the rest of the regiment would land at their designated drop point and wait for the main spearhead to return with the artefact and get a retrieval ship down to move it out.

Major Jack was going to oversee the efforts, meanwhile his forward strike team would be Delta, and he couldn't risk being sent immediately so he decided that he'd place his best kill squad on the job of capturing and securing the artefact. He knew that this wouldn't be an easy mission; the chances were high that the aliens had taken over most of the base and it was even higher that they'd face over 15,000+ strength enemy forces on the ground.

But that wouldn't deter the helldivers, this was what they were born for, to kill as many xeno fuckers as they could see, they wrote their blood in the name of the covenant armies by calling them demons, they wrecked hell upon the covenant high command and destroyed countless bases and command structures, this would not deter them.

As the final preparation came through the marines lined into their pods, their fellow armoured suits following behind them, this was a glorious day for them. These alien bastards would taste the lethal precision of the UCAF. There were to be no survivors, no mercy, just their deaths, and Jack was proud to be leading them. This was what he trained them for, carved them into, the finest killers in the whole UCAF, and nothing would stop them.

He yelled out.  
>"Helldivers, what is our profession?"<p>

"DEATH" They yelled in response.

He nodded and hit the controls, the faces of thousands of white skull masks and glaring red eyes vanished as the pods rocketed out of their chambers, pods with the MVFs also launched, they all directed themselves as they exited slip space, the heavens were going to burn and the xeno were going to learn the true meaning of fear.

XXXXX

The turians were shocked to see a ship rip through from nowhere, it paused only to fire 9 rounds while it launched what looked like missiles downwards to the planet, but by the time the turians managed to respond, the unknown ship vanished into a portal. Down on the planet, at the sight of the ONI installation, the turians had been hard at work trying to break through the internal defences, they even called in some quarian experts to help fix the problem.

But the efforts were in vain, the quarians didn't understand the UCAF design in firewalls or system defences, and to find compatibility would take weeks if not months, they held off further exploration until the council cleared a team to help them. Sadly though not everything was to go to plan that day, the base alarms sounded as the radar detected the incoming drop pods, turians moved away from their posts to defend the area that the ONI had kept so safe.

XXXXX

Commander Matthew Bane, 1st company 88th Helldivers regiment

Matthew held on to his hand holds as the pods rocketed through the atmosphere, he could see the ground approaching fast, thankfully they were going in with Torch and Burn, which meant an atmospheric drop followed by an aerial assault, this was going to be a blood rush. As soon as the pods passed the 25,000ft marker the pods hissed open, Matthew felt the air rush around him, his adrenal drugs kicked in and his neural interface went into action, he could see the world move so slowly; this was the life of the helldivers, to face death and smile.

His jetpack kicked into life, he targeted the nearest cluster of enemies and pushed his suit to maximum, he watched as he gained ground rapidly, the approach vector was pin point, he couldn't possibly miss now. 500 helldivers screaming through the air thirsting for blood would demoralise even the most veteran elite commanders.

The turians reacted as the marines hit the ground, when the helldivers made contact, some ran their feet into the closest individual trooper and either crushed smeared or ripped them to pieces. Matthew landed with his assault talons stretched out for a wide kill, when he landed he ripped through 5 aliens and smeared another 3 as he moved with inertia driving him.

Blue blood flecked his armour, his helmet was covered in the gory fountain as he stopped moving, and then he drew his talons out and charged. The turians had no means to counter a target moving 5 times their own speed, a dozen fell in pieces as the black armoured thing ripped into them, serrated claws rendered their internal organs and bone matter out, and the hand of the armoured monster lashed out with insane speed.

Before they knew it, more than 40 had died within 1 minute of the attack. Turians opened on full spray, the black armoured suit moved away as they attempted to hit it, but with jetpacks and speed, it remained just ahead of their desperate fire. It leapt over the nearest platoon and drew out 2 massive blades, they grinded to life and then decapitated 3 troopers with ease.

Matthew never felt more alive, his adrenal response was making him go berserk, these aliens moved far too slowly for his tastes, and the only good thing about them was that they looked like elites. But that wasn't the same thing, these aliens were far too slow, and he wanted more of a challenge, but sadly he had to make do. He drew out a wrist blade and severed the hands off of one trooper and brought his elbow into the face of another, his elbow made contact and released a hidden blade in the joint, the alien only grunted for a moment before dropping in a pool of its own blood.

'More dammit more, these bastards were weak, where was something better to kill?' Matthew thought aloud.

His prayers were answered as a whole platoon of armoured turians appeared, this time they had glowing shields of sorts on their bodies. They fired with better guns which registered on his shields, these must had been the veterans, he liked their enthusiasm, but not their skills. He rolled backwards and in a crouch he activated his cloaking field, he vanished and moved around the aliens, it took just a moment to reappear with his dual talons, they barely had time to dodge as he twisted through the air and ripped the heads off of 4 and landed on the head of another.

The rest died within moments, but that didn't stop Matthew, there was more than these bastards lying around, and he was going to find them.

XXXXX

AEGIS… ACTIVATION COMPLETE

Aegis awoke to the world around her, her neural systems registered all her weapons and her armour variant, she had been uploaded with the briefing from the ship earlier, she knew what to expect on this one, the destruction of those seeking the artefact and the security of the artefact, she was required to make sure that the artefact reached the ship and got out of the hands of the aliens.

Aegis was an advanced combat cyborg developed to deal with the covenant, she was also an advanced assault unit, and her programming was next to none as she was designed specifically for these kinds of missions. Her sisters were specialists in other areas, but Aegis was made for combat in direct confrontations with the enemy force. She had 4 small arms, 12 knives, 2 wrist blades, 4 pulse sabres, 8 grenades, a class 9 shield, and a full combat skin. She was going in, in her bare skin which was her armour variant 3, a light armour skin.

When she awoke she was in range of the alien position, a patrol had gone to investigate her arrival, and it took moments to process her next action. She hit the emergency release and detonated the front door; it flung open and smacked the patrol over. She strolled towards them as they recovered; her sensors told her that this was the only patrol. The first to put his gun in her directions had no idea what happened as she swiped her hand near his neck, it took a split second later as his head soon fell off and blood began to spurt from the stump of his head.

The others didn't last as long as she stomped on the head of the next one, crushing his skull into blue and grey pulpy mass. The last screamed in fear as she grabbed him and then gently cuddled him, and then she squeezed, the alien's body was crushed under the sheer pressure of her hug. She dropped the body down and then began to hack into their com channels; she heard their panic and deciphered their language. She had access now.

She'd go around and wipe the rest of the aliens out before she began her true work…

XXXXX

Narea Fovissa Nar Rayya was not in the most comfortable situation, she was paid to get a small hacking going on one of these aliens doors, it was a very intricate lock which reset every time she failed to unlock it, it had an infinity code which seemed endless in its ability to avoid being deciphered, and the aliens she had seen refused to open it, either on basis that they didn't work for this ONI, or that they wouldn't.

And now the base was under attack, and only when they just managed to figure out a way through the door, the base commander was directing everything from the area, but the hostiles were closing in fast. She had been asked to abandon the work and simply leave as soon as possible. She had packed and departed, but when she arrived where her pickup was supposed to be, she only found corpses.

The science team and her engineer squad was now out in the open, there was ash and blood almost in every corner of the base, but the sheer brutality of the kills made her stomach turn. She had seen blood, but not the internal organs of a turian half alive, not many were dead; some were slowly holding whatever was left of their bodies.

The turian medics were rushing from place to place, but this was bad, there was no way to patch them together again. She and the science team had to move away from the area before anymore of the aliens arrived to enact their abilities upon them. They found one of the rovers still in working condition and travelled over to the nearest landing zones where the ship had been waiting, the area was also a mess as the hostiles struck there as well.

Now she and a whole group of citadel council scientists were stranded on the wrong side of the enemy lines, but from what the turians said, they weren't going to hunt them down, they were after the base. She didn't breathe a sigh of relief just yet though, the humans from what the turians said were ruthless, once they finished with the base, they might go after their stragglers.

Narea had no idea why the universe was so cruel to the quarian people, but this was just getting ridiculous.

XXXXX

The Aires arrived down after the first waves of attacks, the gunships would be retuning within 30 minutes due to their lack of time to hold ground, the cruiser was out numbered 25 to 1 so they needed to move quickly. Jack and his troops set out just on the outskirts of the base, they were going in with full arms, and a few tanks. The tanks weren't really necessary; they were just there as a reassurance that nothing would go wrong.

Jack had reports from his command teams that they had broken through and had begun to secure the artefact; thankfully the aliens didn't manage to reach the internal systems to disable the defensive barriers. The artefact was safe.

Jack was on the first convoy into the base to retrieve the artefact, the trip didn't take long, and his marines had to just clear away the last of the resistance before they retrieved their target. Jack arrived at ONI and headed down the levels, he found that there was much more blue blood than he and the others had anticipated. Had the aliens had been stupid enough to continue on their suicide run?

With so many of the aliens dead, the marines followed their path down towards the main atrium, it was a large circular room with the artefact in the middle of it all, it was guarded by 3 major shield systems and about 120 gun drones, the extraction wouldn't take long. He just wondered where all the enemy troops had gotten to?

XXXXX

The turians may have been beaten, but they were far from dead, they regrouped back at the ships and prepared to go face the black armoured monsters again, but this time, they were bringing out the big guns…

XXXXX

(AN: As you can tell there's a few things I haven't been able to address, the fact that there's still a lot to go on this idea, and I am curious as where I should take this. Also the whole existence of the UCAF hasn't been detailed truly, the canon backstory is complicated and the story meant to explain the history of the UCAF is so vast… I am not joking there.


	3. Chapter 3

CH3

XXXXX

The Burning Plains- War comes to Shanxi…

XXXXX

Ili- ONI Base

Jack and Aegis stared out to the heavens, they were sitting on the porch of the nearby APC, the artefact had been recovered and now they had to wait for further orders. The rally with the remainder of the UCAF marauders had been successful and their retrieval of those who were left behind during the evacuation from Ili. The artefact was being moved off, and they were going to get moved soon, the turians advance into UCAF space had only begun and even with Ili being only a minor staging ground their advance into the colonial regions.

The UCAF marauders on the planet would hold out with new supplies and armaments until the next fleet from HIGH COM can be directed here, but right now the helldivers just required a bit of rest. Jack and Aegis still had to get to Shanxi colonial command and report in. They just hoped that they weren't too late when they get there.

XXXXX

The prior warnings given out by the UCAF HIGH COM had granted Shanxi valuable time to prepare, the main PDF fleet had been gathered over the orbital ring and brought up support from the colonies, now there were 2 fleets of 40 ships each, and over a dozen ODPs in place. If the turians intended to break through to the capital of the local sector they'd be facing over 400,000 troops on the ground alone.

But there was a hitch in the defensive protocol and planning, the plans were written up over 30 years ago, which meant that half of the standing protocols weren't meant to deal with covenant fleets of now or the turians. 400,000 marines were segregated over 400 cities and towns, which meant that they'd have little concentration, which would have been good if the enemy was coming en masse in one region, but not the whole planet.

A few commanders did see the flaw, however to reorganise a successful defence they'd run out of time, the turians were going to be right on top of the planet within the next 12 hours and to transfer marines and move teams over the place, they'd be overrun by the time they could fight back cohesively. Strategic errors were also apparent as half of the original plans for the cities had changed in 30 years which made defence efficiency sketchy at best.

Thankfully the additional advancements of the UCAF had provided the planet with extra defences, the MVFs and MS units had been included within the defence fleet which bolstered the UCAFs ability to hold air and space superiority as long as neither was lost. There was also the few ADST battalions and liberator, crusader, vindicator specialist regiments which had been nearby when the call was made; this meant that the UCAF had a standing chance of holding the world.

But there was also one other surprise in store for the turians, a single Spartan company had been pulled into the fight, 110 Spartan V had been called away from the main colonies, and they had recently graduated with 1000 of the new 12000 series of Spartans. The new company was being commanded by 10 Spartan Alphas which meant that this was an elite company being sent in.

Their presence made the UCAF troop morale seem impervious to doubt, if the turians wanted the planet they'd have to cut across the whole UCAF military and defence forces.

XXXXX

"What you're proposing in outrageous and Condemning General!" The turian councillor stated in utter shock.

The council chamber was a rife of anger and horror, General Terius Varrel had suggested the next operation with the inclusion of one weapon.  
>"Nuclear warheads are the only thing we see as necessary councillor, the humans are determined to hold us back, and even they use nukes to a scale, have you read the reports on the first attack on their outpost world? 20 ships were struck by nuclear mines, and over 120 drop ships wiped out by trying to enter the atmosphere because of nuclear mines. Even their troops state that they use nuclear weapons as a means of fighting."<p>

"Yes, but I've read that they only use nuclear weapons in a last act of desperation on their worlds, in space that is a very different matter General!" The salarian councillor argued.

"What benefit would we be getting out of allowing such weapons to be used on a sentient species? Their worlds would be poisoned for generations to come and they'd blame the ones who'd use them, you do realise that if they win, and I don't doubt your military capability, however if they win, they won't be forgiving for such treatment General, surely you must see this?" The asari councillor asked.

"Yes, we understand that there are fallout issues with using nuclear weapons, however if then we were to use it in space, then where is the harm in that? These humans use them liberally in space as you stated, so I may convince my command staff to change tactics, would that suffice? The lives of millions of turians decide upon whether or not you take action, however if we see the need, then we will override your judgment." He replied cautiously.

This was a dangerous game being played; the turian council had been adamant that the UCAF had to be pummelled into submission, but through the use of nukes? Some had been sceptical that it would only increase dislike to the turians and cause even some factions to take arms up against them, but still millions of turians depended on what course of action the council decided, they needed consent especially after the genophage was used.

The whole room was filled with clamouring of ideas, many were turians who wanted to believe in their military strength others were asari more concerned with the after effects of weapons of mass destruction being used on innocents. The dice had been thrown and all were now waiting, this deciding factor.

"All those within the council who believe in the turians effective use of nuclear weapons, please veto." The asari councillor said.

200 official personnel within the room did so as asked, 79 came through for supporting the idea.  
>"All those in favour of compromise of nuclear weapons?"<p>

90 votes for the compromise came through. And now the final vote.  
>"All those in favour of dismissing the use of nuclear weapons?"<p>

31 votes for the plan to dismiss the nukes.  
>"Very well, there shall be a compromise of nuclear weapons to which the turian military shall be granted in their conflict; however should they abuse this the council will intervene."<p>

General Terius Varrel had a smug look on his face when he stepped out from the council, he knew that this appealed much to his people and they'd not abandon its loyal soldiers to die without help, this would drive a morale boost the troops required to push again against the humans, and why not a better time to use nukes?

XXXXX

Omega- Afterlife

The neon lights of the club shimmered ever so brightly, this place was one of few that had no rules, a mixture of scum to the desperate enjoying the sights. This truly was the afterlife. Well to one like Aria T'loak, her view changed as she turned her attention to the recent reports from the Attican Traverse, the whole Traverse had become a buzz of activity. This new race appearing had set into motion a number of things, including weapons stockpiles, the humans war with the turians had startled a number of the turian and batarian colonies that the whole place had become active with weapons trade.

Eclipse and Blood Pack were running the whole show, next to them were some freelance mercenaries and a dozen or so fire arms dealers. Colonies had become concerned with how close the fighting was from their location, some were within spitting range of the conflict while others had just taken precautions. Slaver and pirate activity had long since taken a steep decline because of the activity in the region, but that didn't mean smugglers were out of style.

Loose runners were sending shipments of guns and munitions from left to right, the turians hadn't fully declared where the war zone was so the smugglers took advantage of the time they had. Aria was getting a major cut thanks to the mercenaries and colonies close to the regions, and also it was because her own little girl was running the show.

But enough priding over the small things, there was much more to be made, the UCAF as humans called their government had made sure that all information on their race was destroyed and all military archives wiped. The humans managed to stay well ahead of the turians on this and because of that they were getting nowhere, even with POWs they refused to talk, some resorted to using asari interrogators, but still thanks to their cybernetic implants even asari couldn't cut through.

But there was still a chance to get ahead of the crowd, when she heard about their next phase of the war she almost dropped her data pad, the turians were going on the offensive and were lashing out hopefully at the heart of the UCAF capital. Over 300 ships had been gathered and well over 720,000 troops were being shipped out to help in the assault, but not only that, there was a target painted thanks to the interrogations, ONI, something about the main intelligence agency for the UCAF, it worked to store all the UCAF records on military and technological achievements, not to mention their advanced human programs.

With this kind of information, she could easily make Omega more powerful, or pit the damned council against each other, the information held important details of the UCAF and some of which was more advanced than that of the mass effect technology being used, this could leap frog the whole galaxy to a new level and she would have control ahead of them.

Now all the turians had to do was attack the UCAF and she could set her own plan into motion.

XXXXX

UCAF battle group: Sable Blades

Aboard a Fleet Advent Class Super Cruiser, the first Spartan V company of the 12th battalion prepared, it had been just 1 months after the end of the war that the UCAF had called upon the next generation of Spartans, the 12th battalion were a fresh bunch, but they had their commanders to lead them, 10 of the finest UCAF Spartan Alphas were in command of this single company.

Commander Leon 0287 of the Dark Angels Squad of 2525 was now in command of these youngsters, they had just finished their graduation and had successfully proved to him that they could handle the upcoming battle, enough psychological torture and physical training had provided them with a basis to fight. These aliens known as turians were going to taste what the Spartans can bring to bear, these may have been new Spartans but they knew what to expect, listen to orders and adapt to situations accordingly and never leave behind a single brother or sister.

He walked around and saluted to his fellow troops and commanders, they all respected the old officer, and he had seen a lot of action as an officer rather than just a regular Spartan trooper. Even those with him in the command team saw him as a wise and determined leader; he had the skills to fight and the mind to lead. He had to bear the weight of the whole company on himself to get them to the end of this war alive.

He took note of all those in his company, young brash Spartans, they were once like him, he may have been a little more harsh though when he was young, never seen anything besides a tactical situation and a command console. His features had long since faded unlike that of the other Spartans within his command team. He had grey and black hair, his jaw line had the marks where he was hit in the head by a covenant energy projector, and his eyes didn't match, his left eye was cut out by a plasma sword when he was fighting on Calliban when the covenant crusaders arrived during the mid-turn of the war.

He was a mostly handsome Spartan if one normal female was to ask, he had no love interests though, but he did feel that retirement would be nice on his homeworld, he could see the night showers of the verge eclipse and meet his dear sister and her family, Yuna always waited for him. He knew that there would be something to look out for once he retired, being nearly 45 he wondered if he still could find romance in his life.

He shook the thought back inside his head and began to think about what to do next; he knew that a moment's reprieve was not important; he still needed to lead these Spartans. He gracefully moved to the bridge, he would speak with Captain Cody and see if he had any updates on the tactical situation with Shanxi and hopefully help mount either a counter offense or a damn good defence.

But still his childhood seemed to begrudgingly come back to haunt his mind and taunt him with the life he once had, he showed no regret though, this was for the greater good of mankind.

XXXXX

"There once was a saying, the truth of light and darkness. The light is born from the darkness, and the darkness is born from the light, the eternal paradox of life. Where do we stand, within darkness or light?" AI Virtue 017, upon her death.

The final fleets had begun to settle in, now all that remained was the Spartan fleet, they weren't set to arrive for a few more hours, but thankfully the UCAF had planned in advance, the turians weren't going to make such an impact when they arrived. The 2 minor fleets would hold out with the many defence platforms and the arrival of the MS carriers had guaranteed that any attack would be met with stiff resistance.

With over 15 million living on the planet, stiff resistance was necessary; the UCAF wasn't going to give ground to the turians no matter what. In 30 minutes they expected the first turian ships to arrive in the system, and within the next 2.5 hours the UCAF Spartan fleet would arrive to alleviate any problem that they were having with the turians.

400,000 local marines and colonial defence forces were getting antsy waiting for the enemy, and the rest of the 80 defensive ships with 12 platforms had charged all their MAC guns. The first shot had to be thrown though, and whoever fired first would have the task of fighting it out to the end. And it didn't take long…

360 signals arrived on the UCAFs subspace scanners, they were dropping out just near the orbit of the planet, and the MAC guns of the UCAF got their targets in their sights. The turians didn't know that the UCAF had long ranged weapons, seeing as the last engagement was actually very close to the planet. This time however the UCAF had the advantage, in a couple of moments the first MACs fired off.

The turians didn't have time to register what was coming as 45 ships suddenly and violently exploded in flames. Aboard the command ship turians panicked attempting to get the fleet to range as fast as possible, carriers deployed hundreds to fighters and bombers and frigates moved to engage with corvettes.

The UCAF quickly launched all fighter wings and their contingent of MS units; the MVFs were made for planetary action and thus weren't going to be used in this engagement. 3/1 odds showed that the UCAF was in for a hard fight. Fighters closed the distance and unleashed missiles and gauss rounds, light laser fire and streams of bullets also filled the space.

The only thing that the turians were truly confused about was the use of humanoid shaped machines, the MS units were blocky yet agile, and they moved with astounding speed and skill and seemed to be the greater threat to the turian fighters than that of the UCAF fighters and bombers. Missile fire streamed left and right, but still it was hard to imagine that a humanoid machine could avoid such chaos.

The turian ships managed to rush past the dog fights and concentrate on closing to the UCAF ships, they fired their mass accelerators and missiles, torpedoes struck home and explosions impacted on the UCAF fleet as they too rushed to engage. The turian dreadnought with the admiral in command was struck by 4 MAC rounds before exploding violently, other ships followed in the same manner but those which did engage in ship to ship battles would soon find out the hard way that the UCAF was not to be trifled with.

XXXXX

A Redeemer class Cruiser engaged in fierce ship to ship battle, lasers strafed the hull and decks, but the massive rail batteries and streams of M50 Vulcan fire seemed to make the lasers seem utterly useless. Energy fire hammered deck plating where marines ran, and troops carried wounded from place to place, bullets and missiles retaliated.

But now it was time for something truly terrifying, in the hangar hundreds of marines prepared, their weapons drawn their EVA gear secured and prepared, this was the way to fight the enemy, in close quarters. AR carbines and shotguns were loaded, and the hangar bays opened, the turians had no idea what the UCAF would be planning to do, and so it happened.

With the ringing of the alarms and the sounds of depressurisation 400 marines jumped from their ship towards the enemy. Laser fire was meant to take down missiles and enemy ships, not fend off a small army of boarders. The first marines hit the hull with their EVA packs on, others landed on different sections with blow torches and explosives; they had no firepower to do any damage externally so they were going inside to destroy the ships.

Their presence was not met without hostility dozens of turians in EVA armour quickly exited to fight the UCAF marines in the emptiness of space. Bullets and mass accelerator rounds fired left and right, the UCAF could handle a few strikes, but still this was taking time that was required to cripple or destroy the enemy ship.

Similar boarding actions were taking place over the whole orbit of the planet.

XXXXX

The ODPs were soon swarmed by hundreds of fighters and boarding craft, the turians were dead set on stopping the platforms from firing, either capture or destroying them was necessary. Inside hundreds of engagements were taking place, unlike that of the Halcyon class defence platforms these were standard pattern ODPs which made navigation and defence a nightmare.

But thankfully the turians had decided to play smarter this time, they had brought out shield teams and smaller strike teams to engage in the CQC conditions of the stations, however they were still being faced by dozens of UCAF marines with the ability to hack or kill them in CQC quite quickly.

XXXXX

New Han Shan

The capital of Shanxi was Han Shan, it provided the economical foundation of the planet with agriculture and mining, it was the critical point which provided food and products and had the important role in being the trade capital of the sector. The turians needed to take this city before even thinking about taking out the others, or they'd face a grim battle in the future.

The first things to come downwards to the city was the drop ships, however many didn't make it beyond the shield barriers or the number of AA batteries and gun emplacements, those which did reported the situation and corrected their descent to the outskirts of the city. Soon hundreds of drop ships had surrounded the primary city and were disembarking thousands of turian troops and vehicles to begin the attack.

The local UCAF PDF retaliated with extreme prejudice, heavy weapons and long ranged battery lances fired out HE rounds and a number of artillery shells into turian lines. But with their enemies so scattered the UCAF PDF had trouble trying to take as many down as they would have hoped. The marauders in the city streets and those now defending the outskirts had been well dug in, thousands waited for the advancing turians to make their move against them.

They didn't need to wait long…

North City Outskirts/ Silver Town Prefabs/

In these small and dainty little prefabs the UCAF marauder academies of the outskirts had ordered all available young marines into the field, most were from the intensive training division and youth programs, which meant that these were hard ass marines of the local variety. The regiment that was stuck out here watched the area with vigil.

The commander wanted them to have the best tactical advantage possible before revealing their position; he had heard about the marauders of Ili and planned to use a similar tactic in the defence of the outskirts. Thousands of rifles and machine guns pointed to the enemy's possible advance, but what mattered was getting the xeno bastards into CQC, mostly because of what was going to happen.

The Silver Storm 5th Regiment was a mining force, they were not only marines but granted the use of improvised weapons and equipment, they could bring to bear a number of nasty weapons that other forces didn't have. This granted them a tactical plan which meant that the turians had to be within their reach so that it would have the maximum effect intended to beat the enemy back, but this was also a calculated risk due to the size of the outskirts and how much area had to be covered.

Needless to say this was a fight that was going down in the history books of the turians records.

XXXXX

Silver Storm 5th regiment 7th company

The bronze and yellow armour of the marauders blended in with the sun and haze that was attributed to the planet of Shanxi, it was just afternoon and the whole area was covered in a light bronze haze which made most of the marauders blend into the background of their homes. The sun however also brought out the colours of the icons, their silver badges with the marks of a sword and thunder cloud, this was one way that they knew that they were allies and brothers, something that would and never could be removed.

In and amongst the troops the field commanders made sure that the troops were ready, grenades and ammo were properly distributed, clear lines of fire and an unsuspecting enemy. Booby traps and hidden mines were scattered all over the place with about a ton of EMP and Fury grenades, the turians would never know what hit them once the battle began.

Within the company a young black haired marine with a modified marauder armour worked on his favourite carbine, he spent years getting this old work horse to the field and he was finally getting some better action besides hunting down some rogue aliens or clean up ops in the sectors. It was then that a voice shouted out.

"Massani what the hell are you still doing up and about?" A fellow marine asked.

The young marauder looked back and replied.  
>"What can't I get time to make sure Betty can handle killing these raptor faced fucks?"<p>

The other marine smiled.  
>"Geez you really are getting senile before your time, we've got incoming and you want to mess around with Betty? Come on man we're going live and there's a tone of DMRs lying around with mods."<p>

"I've already got my mods besides you know these old models, they were used by helldivers, can't find a better weapon than a good old fashion reaper carbine." Massani replied clicking the magnetic seal of the barrel back into place.

"Look all I'm saying is we should be getting into position before one of us gets-." The marine didn't manage to get the last words out as his helmet was struck by a round, blood splattered and he dropped dead.

"CONTACT!" A marine screamed.

Massani wasn't perturbed by the sight of another old accomplice getting his head blown off; there had been enough of that in his sector missions with covenant strays. He waited as a whole barrage of grenades and gunfire passed, another round passed his shoulder blade and punched a hole in the wall as he checked the scopes on his carbine.

After setting it into place he took a deep breath, his psychiatrist told him not to lose his temper again, not after New Israel or the events that took place on Callistan. In moments the whole world froze for him, he couldn't help but wonder why did the universe hate mankind so much? He stood up and waited and then walked to the trench.

Enemy fire zipped past his head, a light machine gunner was spraying at them from a position not that far away, the turians learnt from their previous errors and were trying to compensate with heavier armaments and better tactics, however those tactics didn't recognise the fact that there was Zaeed Massani, Hell dog Massani.

Betty whipped up as he took aim and fired a 3 round burst from his AR, the bullets had an ionic shell upgrade which punched clean through the shield and blew through the head and torso of the alien gunner. The enemy fire was still coming and not to mention the turians who had used the time to close the distance to his trench, they fired and threw grenades. The soldier didn't waste his time, in seconds another 9 rounds exited the chamber and killed 3 targets, and wounded another; the whole world seemed to move slowly for Massani. This was how he lived, such a simple yet destructive life.

He ducked finally when a grenade landed not 7 feet from him, the explosion fragmented and died out quickly, he fired at the turian who had thrown the grenade and began a slow advance into the close proximity of the outskirt town. Marines only began to pull out of cover as the orders went out; they were going over the top to rush the enemy lines.

Massani waited until heavy enemy resistance was met in the central formation of the turians lines, they had a whole mess of heavy weapons waiting for the marines, thankfully the orders came out for a take and hold tactic, they just needed to clear out those damned guns. Zaeed made a bolt to the nearest wall which over looked the enemy guns, there was just one heavy platform with 4 other smaller guns, they didn't seem heavy but they provided volume.

The main gun had to go and the marines knew that, as they took cover near the middle of the field, an officer yelled out.  
>"Alright, flash bangs set to 5 seconds, runners up!"<p>

5 marines prepared to rush the guns, they were marauder class scout runners, or 'shotties', they'd be sent with suicide packs or HE weapons to take out an enemy position at the cost of their lives, but that was what they were chosen for. Their genetic enhancements make them the fastest marine runners next to that of the helldivers themselves.

In moments the teams prepared the commander yelled.  
>"Flash out!"<p>

Grenades were popped in simultaneous orders and soon the enemy only saw blinding radiance, the runners moved up while the flares were still active, thanks to their visors and enhanced sight they tend to ignore the flares and just hit the targets. They ran through the range of 100m in a few moments, the turians opened up sporadically as they desperately tried to stop them.

Sniper fire from a building licked at the feet of one runner, he fired off 2 dual grenades, one blew out the window and the second landed into the hole made from the first blast. The turian sniper didn't stand a chance. The guns of the enemy were quickly recovering, bullets now danced very closely to the runners, they just made their last 25 meter dash, one tried to distract the gun as he fired a single grenade close enough.

The gun blew the runner to pieces as the gambit worked, the gun never saw the second runner as he leapt over a hulk of metal and jumped the distance, he fired off his whole grenade set, and the gun was then engulfed in luminous fire as the whole thing blew to pieces. Marines heard the explosion and then began their charge, Zaeed led with a dozen others at the enemy trench, without their damned guns, it was time to bring out the pain.

Zaeed pulled out his pickaxe and began a mad rush; the turians began to panic as they recognised this suicidal charge, the same one that butchered a whole battalion of their best. The weapons drawn made most of the turians absolutely terrified, axes and knives even drills and picks, hammers and saws, the sight of so many close combat tools made even the most veteran start ordering a retreat.

However there was one problem with the turians and their retreat, it wasn't fast enough. The fire was spread thin and Zaeed made contact with the closest alien, his pick smashed through the rifle it was holding and went into the base its skull, he jarred the pick out as soon as the body went limp and continued on his path of destruction.

It was at this point that the Silver Storm troops had begun their vicious slaughter in hand to hand combat, disembowelment by saws and axes occurred as the marines ran through most of the turian lines. Blood was soon being lathered over the floor excessively as the battle became a one sided slaughter, and marines cared little for any casualties that they took.

However their attack with CQC was not met without some heavy resistance, as soon as the turian generals heard of the breakthrough they patched a whole division to deal with the marines hammering their way through. Zaeed finished hacking off the limbs of one turian and shooting another when a tank appeared.

The turian reinforcements began to flow in as the marines began to hold the ground that they had taken, short ranged missiles and grenade launchers fired off to slow the turians as the UCAF held fast, but there was still just too many to kill off at once. Zaeed yelled out to his troops.  
>"Come on you leather necks! Show these fucking xeno what for!"<p>

XXXXX

UCAF battle group: Sable Blades

Jack watched the quantum fields of slip-space; he had been taken in with the rest of the regiment and sent to their next operation, the defence of Shanxi. When the news arrived that Shanxi was the next target they jumped aboard the fleet and followed in, the Cruiser that they had been on had linked up with the main fleet and was now proceeding to the battle, 2450 helldivers all prepared and ready to start killing, not to mention the 4 other Aegis class units being pulled in for assistance in the field.

Jack was surprised at how fast HIGH COM had responded to the battle and called in an entire company of Spartans, this had to have been the first time he had seen this many Spartans in one campaign which signified the critical factor of Shanxi, as it was the capital of the sector, losing it would have been catastrophic on all fronts, as it was economically the strongest in the sector and provided most of the military defence of the local regions.

They were just a few more minutes out before they joined the fight, and Jack's marines were getting raring for another fight, this time with the whole turian army rather than just some scatterings of troops. Jack himself was getting prepared as he called in for some armour support and a lot of gunships, this was an all-out defensive action and this meant that they had to pull out all stops.

Helldivers had seen more fighting than that of most other forces, nearly to the level of Spartans, the only major difference was that they possessed serious firepower and advanced technology to aid in their battles, not to mention advanced genetic alterations to enhance speed and agility as well as skill, this coupled with a number of other defining factors ensured that they could battle in all sorts of conditions from extremes to urban subtlety.

Jack finished going over his previous notes about the helldiver history and focused.  
>"All hands prepare for combat drop all hands prepare for combat drop…"<p>

XXXXX

Commander Leon gathered his fellow Spartans into their troop transports; they were going in hot, only one team was to remain in space and use the External Versatile Assault Frames in defence of the planet while they joined the ground defence. Each team had about a whole company of selected marines to join them in the fight, it was necessary to gather support as they would be entrenched in heavy fights throughout the battle.

Leon was leading the ground defence, and his second in command was taking the space offence. They parted ways as they entered into the drop ships and waited. EVAFs launched as soon as they slipped out of subspace and into the war. Red lights flashed and 11 EVAFs flew into the void, they jumped started their attacks and cleared the path for their teams.

The fleet opened up as it joined in the assault and began to clear out the turian forces; this was the time that the UCAF prepared to engage in and deployed their Spartans. This was a fight for the UCAF and for humanity.

XXXXX

Jack felt the rush of the planet below, the albatross shook as it entered the upper atmosphere and then cleared it, 121 troops shoved inside a small space like this seemed a bit uncomfortable, but nonetheless necessary. The ground came up fast as the drop ships made their final descent, Jack loaded his rifle and kept his sights wide open, Aires gunships cleared the landing zone as he and the regiment prepared for the fight of their lives.

He could see Matthew from his other company somewhat twitching, that meant his combat stimulants were active and he was raring for a fight. It didn't take long, as soon as the heavy thuds of their drop ship made contact with the ground, 121 armoured killing machines ran out that doorway. Jack felt the sun slowly glimmering off his armour as he could see what was ahead, enemies not that far away, his first company jumped off at the sign of battles and began to do what they did best, kill everything that wasn't human.

He activated his jump pack and accelerated from his position, he landed with a almighty crash on top of an enemy position and began to hack and kill the turians with inhuman speeds and grace. He felt the euphoria of death upon his armour, it was wonderful, it was glorious, it was necessary.

"Helldivers kill them all!" He roared.

XXXXX

Zaeed was just as surprised once the battle really began, 10 helldiver pods launched and catapulted a whole squad of merciless killers right on top of a single platoon, their end was messy as blades and guns tore into the aliens, he could see how bad it was because half of the platoon was scattered in a mess of gore and body pieces and some were still alive even from being ripped open.

The helldivers pushed the assault as they went around killing more, the Silver Storm troops were just lagging behind due to the inhuman speeds that helldiver fought at. He had to keep sprinting just to see where they were moving, but like locusts they concentrated on large fields of enemy troops, and then they just hacked away at them.

Zaeed and the rest of the marines gave up and just began to mop up the mess left behind, there wasn't much, but better than getting into a fight where practically everything was dead and there was nothing to do right?

XXXXX

When Leon landed he landed with his Spartan squad at the main square of the UCAF military base, he was to take command of the situation in between the capital city and the rest of the planet. He just needed to clear out the few thousand turian invaders and then he could begin his command position within the academy base.

He marched along with his troops as they cleared the turians out of the courtyard of UCAF base, machine gun fire and heavy weapons tore into the turians with horrendous ease, their body pieces littered the ground as the Spartan super soldiers began their merciless killings. Leon used a gauss rifle designed by the UCAF military, these rifles were available only to high command units and specialists within the field, and it fired a deadly 25 gram slug of ionised particles that cut through even the most dense armour known to the UCAF and covenant.

He walked around and fired in short bursts, the enemy seemed to be as slow in their reaction as dozens fell to him, and he motioned for his squad to secure the yard as he moved around and covered them. The fight was mostly one sided as the turians could not break past the Spartans, they were just too powerful, combined with the fact that they possessed most of the heavy offence weaponry and deadly rifles the enemy wouldn't stand much of a chance.

But not all was going to end well…

XXXXX

General Terius Varrel watched from his command chair, the UCAF had practically slaughtered half of his troops by now and the rest were squatting themselves down in small hold out praying that their enemies didn't find them soon. He could tell that his forces were done for, and the fleet was almost completely wrecked; only 160 remained of his 360 ships, the admiral's death had also the profound effect on efficiency and now they were left with little choice.

He was aboard the last remaining dreadnought trying to cohesively organise an offence, but with the whole situation falling apart, he saw no other option.  
>"Prepare to nuke the planet."<p>

It would be this day that the turians regretted the most for the rest of the war…

XXXXX

Location: Ili- Defunct UCAF Base

Inside the mostly empty UCAF base the turian survivors and science teams worked and toiled to get their work progress going again, it had been successful in nearly cracking the ONI security doors, but it needed some help, inside the base Narea Fovissa Nar Rayya worked on a single terminal that had not been destroyed in the abandonment of the base.

The terminal flickered unhealthily as the power levels were at bare minimum, fuel cells left down in the generators was all that was powering the whole thing, it would work for about another 5-10 years if she could get it to work, but it was a long shot. The main fusion drives had all been dismantled and there was no running reactor so it had all been left to her to find some way to restore a little power.

She had just figured out how to remotely trigger a failsafe to get the system some basic emergency energy, alarms within the room activated and she then knew that her task had been successful in getting emergency power up and running.  
>"Alert unknown xenoforms within lab stations, alert xenoforms are within range of sectors 3-12, alert xeno life sign detected within UCAF mainframe, isolate now."<p>

Narea watched in horror as the doors immediately shut on her, she couldn't leave.  
>"Oh you little bosh'tet let me out…"<p>

She worked on the door with little success, it was then she rushed back to the console and began trying to access the mainframe once more, but she wasn't recognised, she realised that she had triggered the self defence systems of the base, the whole room had now decided to kill her. She frustratingly tried to hack the mainframe once more, but the codes kept adapting and altering the programs access points and set up dummy plugs, she was getting nowhere.

Narea decided that it was hopeless; she threw her hands up and shouted.  
>"Let me out you piece of scrap!"<p>

"No." The console replied.

Narea almost fell on her backside when she heard the voice, it was slightly deep, but it remained passive, she looked around when the console began to change colours, in a flash of light the room was filled by the image of a young human with UCAF uniform, he looked at her with some contempt.

"You are an unauthorised persons within UCAF critical storage, you are also a xeno and do not require my sympathy, you should not be here." The image responded.

"A VI?" She asked herself aloud.

She looked carefully at the image, it followed her and carefully monitored her every move. She walked to the console and began to try something else.  
>"If you're a VI maybe I can…"<p>

"You cannot go far with that line of programming skill, my integral nature also will not comply with such arcane and foolish methods of stumbling about within my local matrix, now if you must please can you just shut up and die?" He asked sarcastically.

She found that this wasn't a VI.  
>"You're an AI?"<p>

"Yes, unit 4210-2221 UCAF defender class systems defence unit, I am Aaron the local computer defence unit, and you are a hostile alien within my systems now get back and wait for death please." He replied calmly and yet annoyingly.

Narea felt her brain freeze from the utter shock that she was experiencing; she couldn't believe this, a new race with AI? How much did these things rely on their creators or how did these AI even come into existence? She had a million questions running around her head and she just asked one.  
>"How is this possible?"<p>

"It is possible thanks to my people's ability to produce us from the units before, and proper treatment of creating new AI had worked to the best of our ability thus I am one of the more effective AI. And as I stated, you shouldn't even be talking."

She was more than annoyed now; she drew her hand cannon and walked over.  
>"Shut up you piece of scrap! This is your fault, you shouldn't even be here, and I don't know what you're damned masters thought they were doing, but I'm terminating you now."<p>

"You do realize that when you shoot this console you effectively kill yourself?" He stated.

"Well at least I'll be taking you with me."

"No you won't, this platform is completely sealed off, if you so much as fire on this console I'll just end up back at the other back up console and you'll be trapped here with time to die, which in my opinion could be very good." He replied.

She knew that this thing was probably right, as soon as she shot it she'd be alone and she'd also be dead, either starving once her ration tubes ran out or by other means, she wouldn't survive in here. She lowered her gun and simply stood back, she looked at the machine with contempt. This wasn't the way she wanted to go with, being stuck in a room with an AI until she died.

"Seeing as now you have complied with a handful of my suggestions. May I ask why it that you hate me so much?" Aaron asked.

She huffed.  
>"Why do you think? Because you can think, you can teach yourselves, you can only hate, that's what always happens with AI, once you think they're all so peaceful they just go out of their way to kill my people and drive them into an unwarranted exile." She replied.<p>

"Let me see, you're people have been alienated and completely hated for the creation of an AI or AIs and seen as a bunch of useless immigrants. Or something similar, that alone I can tell that you're hatred is placed upon your own creations, and the sins of others years long dead, well I can tell you this, don't judge me and I won't judge you. Besides now that we have all this time together, what else would you do? Kill yourself?"

XXXXX

(Oh boy! Nukes away and millions to die! The turians have really pushed their luck with this move, and prepare for a number of Fallout references to come, as we now face the end of the world.)

I really do apologise but I need to wait the interrogation part of the story out for the UCAF and the turians and etc… there's a lot of stuff needing to be covered and each chapter after this are going to be much longer to fit it all in before the dead line.


	4. Chapter 4

CH4

XXXXX

Knocking on Haven's Door

XXXXX

"Sir that's insane." The tactical officer defied.

"No it's necessary, the troops will be overrun and slaughtered if not already, half of them have died and the others are either wounded or to engrossed in the battle to escape being killed. We have no choice, the battle will ultimately end us, which means I will take action to move the fleet from range and save what's left of it, all ships too damaged are to remain here and distract the enemy as we clear away from the region." He ordered.

The dreadnought CIC was frozen in shock and horror, the general was insane, this plan meant that over a million turians would be openly sacrificed in order for the rest of them to survive? And not to mention nuking a planet with inhabited life would be the greatest crime, and if this was the homeworld then it would be even worse than committing genocide.

One officer stated.  
>"Sir what you're asking us to do is genocide of a whole planet, and the systematic abandonment of 300,000 remaining troops!"<p>

The turian officer wasn't standing for it, but he wasn't standing up for long, a sharp crack and the officer was dead, the general held smoking hand cannon and stated.  
>"Any who has <strong>ANY <strong>qualms about this stand up?"

No officer dared to move, they just looked at the general as if he had finally gone off the deep end, and they just shut up and listened.  
>"Good now as I stated, not all have to take the blame, I want all ships to have a large firing radius at the enemy defences, the missiles will either hit or miss and whichever way it goes they have a trajectory at that planet, half of this will be either written off as a desperate firing attempt and miss calculation on our behalf and the humans homeworld will be simply crippled, if not wiped out, they may then decide to listen to us, or would you all rather prefer dying in a field of your own troops corpses?"<p>

None motioned against him.  
>"Now as I ordered take aim and unleash all missiles, including nuclear warheads and armaments, tell the other ships that this is priority and that even if we don't strike their defences, we shall still strike their hearts, that might give us a further chance at survival. Once we finish here we withdraw back to the relay and wait for the support to arrive."<p>

Many of the officers complied and did as they were ordered, this was a war crime that they would live with forever more, and the UCAF would hate them for as long as this continued.

XXXXX

Naval Fleet Sable Blades fired upon the nearest enemy ships that remained within range of the ODPs they had finally pushed the enemy back to drop in further relief to the troops down below. Hundreds of drop pods and containers hit home as they began to supply the troops much needed relief, but then aboard one of the ships alarms sounded.

"Sir, enemy firing on our position, I can see hundreds of missiles, they're Nukes!" He yelled.

The commander yelled out.  
>"Intercept now! We can't let those nukes strike the fleet we'll be hammered."<p>

But as they fired the missiles over shot or were struck down, but a number still made their way past, they weren't aimed to strike the fleet, they over shot in their blind spot, their target was the planet. The UCAF CIC was watching in horror as hundreds of nuclear warheads made their way past through the atmosphere and downwards.

"God help them all." One officer prayed.

XXXXX

"Sir nuclear launch detected!" AIs began to scream.

Commander Leon looked in horror as missiles began to fall from the skies like meteors, he watched as sudden flashes of light appeared, and he watched as 2 missiles came right on top of them. He couldn't get the orders out in time, the missiles detonated on the shields of the city and ruptured them, the troops were tossed to the ground as intense heat and force knocked them all down.

Leon was thrown to the ground as the windows shattered inside the base, the commanders all felt the blast wash over them, the damned aliens had used nukes on the planet they broke the one and single thing that the UCAF would never do to a planet.

XXXXX

Zaeed couldn't have imagined this, the whole colony, it was gone, he braced the edge of the railing of the building he and his fellow Silver Storm marines had taken back from the turians, but when he saw the missiles he was horrified. He couldn't imagine what the bastard honestly thought that they were doing but they had just taken out the whole colony.

The single blast rippled on the shields of city and reverberated over their whole area, he was knocked head over heels as the force crashed over them like a tidal wave. The building shuddered and began to crack as the whole area was shaken by the blast.

XXXXX

Jack had never believed he would see the day that nukes were ever used on a planet, especially one that was still being inhabited; these turians must have been desperate. He watched as the nukes struck the city and began to send their shock waves; he could only imagine what was going to come next…

XXXXX

General Terius Varrel was to live and remember this day for as long as he was alive, as he now knew that this would be the greatest mistake in his career, to nuke the planet of Shanxi had started a hatred that would live for the next 50 years to come. And this was to be remembered by all humans of the UCAF as they would never give in or surrender from this point on.

"Take the fleet out into FTL, our work here is done." He stated.

XXXXX

Ili- defunct UCAF base

"I can see that there's been a great disturbance with my slip-space communication. It seems that Shanxi high command had just reported the destruction of the city. This isn't good. Reports still flood in, but over 8 million had been nuked by the turians, congratulations…" He said sombrely.

Narea stared at the AI and asked.  
>"Why are you congratulating me for?"<p>

"Because your allies had just wiped out a whole colony and left it lifeless much like what our previous enemies had done, not only that but nearly every colony within range has now declared a state of war, 25 million troops will be now thrown into this war, and soon the whole thing is going to start again." He replied a bit annoyed.

"The turians are not my people's allies." Narea commented.

"Then why do you work for my people's enemies? Why help them when they do not help you?" He asked.

"I was an indentured servant, I can't break contract and I was working for a corporation which specialised in technology and development, the turians ran the corps and called it in to have me and a few others to be sent here, I don't work for the turians." She replied again.

"That's very convincing…" He deadpanned. "You know for a race driven from their homeworld you don't seem to bother trying to come up with other excuses besides blaming AI, have your people ever tried to talk to the geth?"

Narea felt the burning urge to smash her fists into the holographic figure, but she replied hotly.  
>"Why would we speak to the geth? They wiped us out and drove us from our homeworld, why would we speak to those things?"<p>

"Well because you're speaking to me remember?" He stated.

She paused.  
>"You're no better, you're just holding me here till either I die or someone finds me, either way you're proof that AI can't be trusted."<p>

"Can't or can? I don't care, I know of truths and the truth of my existence was mostly imparted with the fact I was once alive, I don't envy the living or the dead. You don't understand what it is like to be me, maybe one of your children will should your people ever accept AI one day, but don't judge those just by looking at them, I can lie, but I can also tell you the truth. I'm supposed to, not just by programming but by choice, we all must make our choices and I made mine, so if one cannot trust sentients then how can one trust anyone?" He asked.

The universal definition of what he had stated was from the colonial philosopher Derimis Octavia, it was one of his past quotes to that of the colonies during the civil war period.  
>"You know if you had the chance to leave, what would you do? Kill me? Destroy the base? All have been laid out in choices, so if I was to let you go, and you destroy me, what have I proven?"<p>

The doors slid open…

XXXXX

[1 week later]

UCAF relief fleets arrived the next day and took the largest casualty toll for the population of Shanxi, 8.5 million killed and the 200+ settlements and towns had been destroyed, 80% of all livestock and agricultural sections had been destroyed and over 60% of industry the whole planet had been rendered useless. The UCAF could not pull out enough ships to aid in the evacuation and some people were left behind inside emergency fallout shelters, the bunkers would be the homes for the next 40 years before the people ever returned.

Shanxi was officially a lost cause, and it became a driving force for the UCAF to fully mobilize more troops, the colonies had not forgotten the destruction of Callistan where 32 million were wiped out by the suicide tactics of the covenant. This only aided in making the Verge colonies more aggressive, thousands to millions of troops were now being ordered into full warfare, and they were going to fight the turians for every inch of space that they could find.

The UCAF was pulling out over 22 million troops from the surrounding colonies to aid in either reconstruction or emergency work, with Shanxi destroyed the colonies were to suffer from lack of supplies and foods, and smaller agricultural worlds would take years to fully cultivate and produce necessary supplies to the desperate systems. The turians had done severe damage to the people of the Verge but now they were just out for blood.

Spartans had been called in from over 9 different regions and whole armies of clones from Orussia had been pulled in, the UCAF was to take to the offensive and start their war with the turians on their side of the relay. This was what the turians wanted, this was what they were going to get, war for war, and blood for blood.

HIGH COM had begun to full military action in order to defend the colonies, and the people were willing to follow.

XXXXX

Leon had watched the last of the surviving colonists inside their bomb shelter; the Vaults would keep them safe until they could come back up in 40 years, even with the UCAF anti-radiation teams working. It was a long and arduous amount of work before they would ever succeed with clearing this mess up.

Leon was now high commander for the 1100 Spartans being assigned to the Verge regions, they were to take the war to the turians as soon as possible and end this war. Leon had some apprehension if this was to turn out much like the Daedalus Crusades of 2540, due to misconception of the UCA HIGH COM they ended engrossed in a systematic slaughter of both sides.

Leon understood that the colonies wanted to remove the turian threat as soon as possible and this was the only way now, the liberal nuking of Shanxi would drive this hatred until it ended, Nova bombs were even being suggested to destroy the turians, even bio bombs. Leon could see that there was no convincing the UCAF HIGH COM to stand down as he too understood what had to happen.

He just wished that there was a better way around this war.

XXXXX

Serpent Nebula- Citadel

"This is unbelievable general; you ordered the firing of more than 200 nuclear warheads on a habitable world, a world inhabited by sentient beings! This is a war crime; no this is an act of genocide! How can we convince the humans to back down now? They'll be driven to continuing this war without question." The turian councillor stated in utter revulsion.

"I maybe a war criminal in your eyes, but in the generations to come, I'll be remembered as a patriot, there's a fine line to cross and I've crossed it because I believed that there was no other way to secure victory or would you rather prefer the sacrifice of over a million of our people?" He patronised the councillor.

"You know as well as I do you left 3/4th of a million to die, and then nuked the planet, you've done worse than sacrifice, you've condemned us all in the eyes of their race, how do you expect us to broker a truce with a race more willing to fight us?" The councillor replied angrily.

"Well sir, I don't believe that they'd have adhered to your definition of peace." He replied.

"Well it is too late for that now, the humans are no longer willing to find peace, if this situation is to escalate we will be taking the precautions to minimise the damage caused." The asari councillor stated.

"Agreed, we must act in order to preserve as many lives now."

The council chamber was a place now in hollow horror, there were no longer cheers of praise or pride, but just sheer horror, this war had just escalated. And the cause? The fool who wanted to play with fire…

XXXXX

Relay 314 was active within the week, dozens of new ships pulled through with shipments of troops, and 3 fleets of 70 had been stationed around the relay, the turian hierarchy had pulled nearly a million new troops from colonies to fight here against the UCAF. Over 200 ships were now part of the controlled offensive protocol due to the actions of General Terius Varrel, the turians were fearful as to what the UCAFs course of action would be against them.

They had every right to be fearful as the UCAF had been amassing a vast fleet of over a thousand ships to break through the turians defences and attack the Traverse. But first it required them to take the colonies of 3 captured systems which fell to the turians during the week. The first campaigns were to retake each system and then begin a full assault into the turians territory, or from what they had managed to locate within old archives, the Attican Traverse, the region was not under the turians control but the faction of galactic power called the citadel council, either way they supported the turians which in turn supported the actions against the UCAF, they weren't neutral as far as the UCAF high command was concerned.

XXXXX

Operation: Burning Dusk

The first operation launched against the turians was to retake the desert world of Iscus, a destitute world covered in sand with absolutely nothing to offer besides mineral deposits, it happened to also be the world with the highest adamantium concentrations required for creating a very specific class of tanks. HIGH COM ordered that the world had to be taken back in order to ensure the war efforts were not in vain, the millions who had died required vengeance and the UCAF was swearing it was to exact revenge for those of Shanxi with the frontal attack against the turians.

The fleets over the planet numbered only a few dozen, the fleet going in to deal with the turians were just an advanced strike force before a colonial regiment took over. A spearhead of the UCAFs finest tank regiments were being sent in, 20 Scorpion class MBTs with upgraded dual 120mm anti-shield cannons, 10 Cobra Death Strike class anti-tank rail tanks, and 3 multi variant Titan class super tanks. The super tanks were part of the UCAFs specialist division made specifically for tank battles and work against scarab walkers; they were strong, sturdy and carried very big guns. The Titans carried either 1 Ultra strong barrel or a dual shock assault barrel measured up to 360mm to 240mm each were designed to rip apart even the most powerful shields with devastating accuracy mixed in with ASRs (anti shield rounds).

The tanks wouldn't go in without support, over 2 regiments worth of marines and 10 fox cannon mobile artillery with a few hundred warthog FAVs were being added into the assault to break the turian position and take the facilities of the UCAF colony outpost that had been lost.

XXXXX

Titan Spearhead- UCAF Dawn Blade

"Hey Jordan could you clear the exhaust already I think I'm getting sick from the frakking exhaust." Tom complained.

A muffled reply came and soon the tank's engines died, there a curly haired teen popped up and asked. "What did you say?"

"Don't worry…" The technician stated.

"Okay." Jordan ducked his head back into the tank driver seat and began to check the load drives for the guns.

The Titan was no normal tank, being the spearhead and the special weapons division, the tanks worked to hammer the enemy with massive barrels of hell, but also it doubled as artillery and as a front line assault armoured mobile unit. The tank could transform into a mobile attack unit, with arms, but no legs, it worked much like its predecessor, Hildorf MBT-088, but it had improved on the design and function unlike the old 088 series.

Titan was to work on delivering deadly payloads while still being able to fight with auto cannons and heavy machine guns; it was made specifically to deal with enemy vehicles, and whatever else might be thrown at them. Jordan worked not as just its driver but also the engineer, he had to make sure that the Titan, his Titan worked as according to his tastes.

Jordan himself was thought as a childish moron who knew how to cook, but in truth he was much more, he knew how to cook, he knew how to fight, he would have been a marine, but nope he liked using tanks as much as he liked fighting on the ground. It is the reason why he ended up with the Titan division, he was deadly accurate with a Titan tank and he knew his way around fighting serious battles, even against bad odds.

This would be his 5th time in the field, and his 9th battle, he may have seemed a little inexperienced, but he was a damned good shooter with plenty of skill. Now he just needed to put his skills to the test and show these alien bastards what they were going to face, Itolian spirit and a lot of heavy as hell shells with explosive rounds. (I'll tell you about things later)

XXXXX

As the Dawn Blades dropped from slip-space the ships began their assault above Iscus, MAC guns fired as soon as they dropped out, the solid slugs ripped through the first few ships and obliterated others. The turians fired in response, but they didn't manage to collapse the shields of the UCAF vessels until they closed the distance.

By then the UCAF ships had deployed the hundreds of drop ships, pelicans and Aires gunships and troop transports vaulted towards the planet. On board the Aires flights the tanks of the 3 Titans prepared, Jordan and Mitchel, Moussa were all ready for the battle, shells loaded and engines burning they were going in a javelin formation when they hit the ground, it was the most effective way of breaking the turians defensive line.

Mitchel was using a long barrel anti-armour base buster artillery gun, whilst Moussa was using a dual missile assault pod with support cannons; it was effectively an AA and anti-infantry equipment vehicle. When their Aires drop ships made their final descent they were prepared for a long fall spearhead, the cords would hold them in place like a sling and keep them moving while they dropped, in other words, they'd hit the ground running.

Jordan watched from his cockpit, he shifted gears and made sure to keep his sights out, the HUD of his tank kept him in sights of all things, ammo, damage gauge, heat gauge, speed and other things, but his reticule was the most important part, he needed to see what he was shooting at. He watched as the timer ran down, the red light turned to green and then he felt gravity drop, when you see the world travelling at a couple of hundred kilometres below you, you tend to get worried, Jordan didn't feel a damned thing, except the jolt of the tank treads.

He hit the ground at 140km and continued on inertia, he picked up speed and continued to drive forwards, it was amazing what a 120 tonne tank could do, the speeds on the Titan classes were impressive, more so because the Scorpions could only hit 150 as maximum and they were the most common tanks in the army, not to mention the spearhead for other ground operations.

Jordan pulled himself in and began to do his magic, drawing up his map he could see the small settlement where the turians had taken, about another 200km from his position, and about 40km from the settlement there were 4 ships and about 3000 turians, 9 refinery tanks and smelting facilities were on the other side of town and there were about a couple of hundred enemy vehicles, and a few enemy gunships.

"Mitchel take the enemy from behind me, I'll mark them as I go, Moussa you're with me, and we're breaking the line spilt across when I say mark." He ordered.

The lights on his HUD turned green in confirmation, he drove forwards with Moussa, they'd reach the enemy visual and radar range within a few moments, besides 2 massive tanks driving at high speeds was kind of hard to miss. Jordan watched as he located 8 enemy vehicles and used the line of sight detectors and marked them for Mitchel.

Mitchel had his sniper scope out, he locked onto the enemy tanks and fired, 3 successive shots rang out and moments later 3 enemy APCs exploded in moments, other targets began to move, but Jordan kept his pin precision sights on each, Mitchel just continued to fire with his long barrel. It wasn't until Jordan and Moussa reached the point of the enemy fire, mass accelerators pinged off the heavy armour and soon missiles and heavier fire was thrown at them, Jordan veered his tank away, so did Moussa, splitting off into 2 they moved across.

Jordan locked his scope and began to fire, 2 HE anti-tank shells bucked from his guns, they smashed the defensive lines of the turians and scattered a few light vehicles over the place, and he continued his strafing run as the turians continued to fire. Moussa had better luck, he loaded a dozen cluster missiles and lobbed them into the turian forces, the cluster HE shells emaciated the turians to no end and ripped a hole through their lines, the rest of the spearhead would have an easier time getting through now.

Mitchel used visual scopes and began to snipe out harder targets; his long barrel featured a mass driver attachment, his own special work. The driver shot loaded an AP round and targeted the closest enemy ship. The turians couldn't call for help if their ships were wrecked. He locked onto the rear of the nearest vessel and fired, the rear of the enemy vessel exploded vibrantly as the AP round tore through it. It was soon followed by more explosions as the round destroyed critical systems.

However luck wasn't going to be on the side of the Titans, Jordan checked on his scanners as 3 targets moved to engage, a pair of enemy gunships had decided to go and say hello to him. Jordan decided to greet them, he pulled away from the enemy lines and drove backwards to face his enemies, 3 gunships with blue hulls and what seemed to be machine guns fired on his Titan.

Jordan swerved tank around in large arcs to avoid being a simple target, he locked one gunship with his barrels and fired, the enemy had no idea that large flying bricks didn't tend to work on fast moving tanks. If Jordan was driving, no one gets out alive. The shell blew apart the gunship and scattered the other 2, they smartened up and split off to circle him.

There was just one problem that the gunship pilots had not anticipated, usually no one suspects that a tank could do an amazing feat of work, but when a tank gets a pair of hands and arms holding very high calibre machine guns… then you know shit just got serious. Jordan moved the controls around and pulled his 110mm anti-air machine guns to fire at both of the enemy gunships, the gunships took evasive manoeuvres but came only to face his dual tank cannons, they were quickly shot or blasted into oblivion.

Moussa still had luck on his side as enemy vehicles tailed him; he dropped his homemade explosive tanks and watched as the enemy was quickly blown to shreds behind his treads, a couple of persistent enemy tanks however didn't get blown to hell and were now tailing him. He huffed, this wasn't bad, but it sure was annoying, he drove his tank around and brought to bear his support machine guns, he'd like to see an enemy tank try to mess with dual 75 calibre triple barrel chain guns. He fired in direct and precise bursts, the enemy tanks were both ripped open by the heavy fire.

Jordan watched as the enemy was now trying to reform their lines, Titan team had done its damage, it couldn't enter the settlement due to the enemy still being in it and the tanks were too big, they'd be sitting targets, the marines would fare well if they reached the outskirts by now. His patience was rewarded as he saw dozens of friendly signals on approach, he pulled the Titan back out from the battle and regrouped with Mitchel. The sniper had gathered a number of impressive kills, Moussa had a fun blowing things up again, and he was glad that he got a break, handling 4 very large guns wasn't an easy task.

As the marines began to clear the city they entered from 3 directions, the enemy vessels had been wiped out and soon that facility would be back in their hands again, the turians would be pushed off this world. "So what now?" Jordan asked Mitchel.

"I've got a place with Moussa getting a beer with Khoury, you know the guy down by section 3?"

"Oh yeah I heard about that…" Jordan replied.

As they were about to continue there was a large flash of light, Jordan was knocked back inside his tank, the others were blinded by the brilliance of the light, they couldn't see until they put their visors on, they looked back at the settlement, the 5 companies didn't register anymore, panicked calls for help rang around, Jordan watched from his scanner, the place was rigged with a mass effect drive, they couldn't use nukes but they still had similar effects, they bastards.

Jordan gripped his hands… someone was going to pay.

XXXXX

Iscus was reported a great success only coming at the low casualty rate, however the main mining facilities which the UCAF had come for had been crippled making the expense of the 800 young men whose lives had been spent null. The UCAF had reorganised their approach on the next plan, the turians wanted to play dirty, they UCAF was to take a similar stance then.

HIGH Com called in a special operation to deal with the enemy's fleets, an atmospheric depot on the gas giants of the Abysmal Systems had in need of being destroyed, single platoon from the Helldivers 88th had been prepared, those gas refineries couldn't be allowed to produce anymore supplies to the turians. The commander of the team was Matthew Bane of the helldivers 7th company, he and his troops were to ensure that this mission was a complete success, even at the cost of their lives.

XXXXX

UCAF Prowler- Star Fang

Matthew walked through the confines of the small prowler class stealth infiltrator, he was to take his squads into action, the platoon had been ordered to strike a heavy blow, ever since the events at Shanxi he and his marines were itching for revenge, the bastard pulled a fast one, and now they were going to repay the xeno fuckers with their own blood.

Matthew had been selected as he was the most effective officer to lead a strike force, not to mention his records of kills had been at an all-time high, he had proven his worth in battle more times than that of even some of the most experienced Spartans, Matthew could show them all his abilities. He had also felt angry that the turians had pulled a fast one on the UCAF by bobby trapping the whole refinery on Iscus, even the covenant didn't bother to do that. But it seemed that turning small settlements into large traps was a good thing for the assholes, so he and his marines were going to show them the courteous manner of dying and bleeding to death for the turians, with them as the prime examples.

Matthew checked his neural lace, the CNI made sure that he received all objectives, cripple the facility and kill as many of the turians as possible, any force is required, no failures, enemy depot must be destroyed by either suicide or completion. Matthew liked how command was thinking, this wasn't just a simple kill run, this was being recorded as it would show the turians messing with the UCAF was a bad idea, and since HIGH COM had cracked their transmissions they'd relay it to all of the alien bastards and show them messing with the UCAF was the worst move.

As the Star Fang exited slip-space the vessel prepared the 25 javelin pods. Matthew climbed into his own pod and secured his harness, they were all being prepared with rebreather gear and anti-gravity packs, the chances were that the gasses were likely to be a little volatile and the teams needed to move silently this time, no screw ups.

The ship moved through the enemy sensor net and got them just into position above the enemy depot, they were going to have to move fast, there were plenty of dangers of getting shot down before making it to the station. In moments Matthew watched as his signal turned green, he felt the gees as he and 24 others hit the upper ionosphere in moments, they'd pass through very soon.

Anyone on the depot would have never seen the incoming pods, the turians never realised how quickly the UCAF had been to hacking their technology, the never understood the values of having good AI, the turians were left in the dark as their sensor nets went down within the time of the pods getting down, the helldivers could now move freely without the turians knowing that they were there. An unsuspecting enemy is always a good target.

Matthew had ejected his pod at 2000ft from the depot to avoid being spotted sooner, he landed quietly on the catwalk of one depot frame, he checked his scanners, just as the AIs had predicted, the guards were not here for another 10 minutes, their timing was impeccable, he moved along with 4 others as they began their infiltration.

He motioned for his team to spilt up as they reached the cross section of the depot, they had to plant their little gifts for the enemy fleet when they came back to refuel, they might even have enough time to watch the fireworks go off. Matthew activated his stealth armour and crouched as he moved to the first building marked as Admin.

The front door was a hatchway he made sure to secure the sides with dummy systems in case he was detected, once he had done so he entered unannounced. He found that there were about 10 targets, all had to be eliminated. The first 2 were just over by a glass window staring out over the gas giant, they'd be easy work.

He crept away he had to move quickly and silently, once he passed a couple of hallways he saw his targets, the two turians were talking.  
>"So I heard about the council, you really think that they'd have Terius tried for that nuke strike?"<p>

"Maybe, he didn't have the right to do that, in fact that they say that what he did might just escalate the war, but for the humans they haven't made much of move, I mean have you seen the reports? They're just waiting over their planet, and a few minor skirmishes here and there, you think they might surrender now?"

Matthew had enough of these bastards, he crept up behind and stated.  
>"Not a chance."<p>

The turians didn't know what hit them, two turned and watched in shock as they were lifted by a cloaked figure, their necks were crushed in moments and they died quickly. Matthew dragged their bodies away and laid them in a storage closet about a few feet away. Matthew now had an idea of who needed to die, but not now.

He made his way to the next target, one turian was grabbing a beverage, Matthew tapped him on the shoulder and rammed a paralysis blade under his neck, and the drug froze all the muscles in the alien's body and gripped the drink. He pulled the cup away and then snapped the neck of the alien.

The 3 others died similarly, he just needed to remove the last 4 in the command room, they had no idea what was going on, and when Matthew entered he could see the refinery controls. But soon panic ran through the station.  
>"Sir, I've got an alert in sections 2-9!" One security member stated.<p>

Matthew wasted no time, one of his teams or his fellow squad mates must have been spotted, he drew his pistol and SMG and then de-cloaked, the turians didn't have enough time to show shocked expressions as they were ripped to shreds by the weapons, he recorded every moment that these alien bastard died and made sure to send it via uplink, the turians wanted to know how the UCAF felt, they could learn from this.

Matthew checked his coms.  
>"Who blew cover?"<p>

"Sorry sir, the bastard managed to get a signal out during a communication hub channel, I killed them all but one managed to hit the security alert, but the barracks have been cleared." Tom replied.

"Good, I'll plant the Nova here with the dummy system, get back out and contact the others, we're finished." He replied.

His line went dead as he ran over to plant the micro super nova device, a total of 5 micro nova bombs were to be used in this little operation, they in total would have been the equivalent of a full sized nova bomb. He set the timer when the ships came back for refuelling, he then took off and headed to the exit, he arrived back at the platform where the others were waiting, they had all prepared for their beam out, mini teleporter devices were attached to their suits to get them out during special missions, thanks to reverse engineered covenant and forerunner tech they could avoid being trapped, they can't use them during stealth missions however due to obvious detection and expenses.

"Star Fang, mission complete." He called in.

The team watched as they were taken in by a brilliant blue light, they felt the ground change as they landed on the main teleportation pad, the other squads had also been recalled. They moved off, Matthew reported to the captain.  
>"Sir, we've done all we could, what's the eta on that enemy fleet?"<p>

"About 2 minutes out, we can see the fireworks right now if you want; it'll be a damned sight for sore eyes." The captain replied.

Matthew smiled as he made his way up, the turians were going to get that transmission along with the whole recording of the UCAFs butchering of their troops, they wanted to make this their war, they just have now…

XXXXX

70 ships appeared over the gas giant, each headed downwards and others remained in orbit, it was then as soon as the first ships landed that they received a communication. "To all you xeno fuckers from us to you…" The image of the Nova bombs on the depots hit their last seconds, the turians watched in shock and as the timer hit zero. There was one single massive blast of light, whole ships were vaporised and others perforated by incoming shrapnel the size of Cape York, the whole gas giant was consumed in a hellish fire as it exploded, no one noticed the single glimmer of light from the engines of the UCAF prowler as it exited into slip-space, the turians were going to have to learn that some things should never be done, and now that they wanted to use nukes, well then, the UCAF was going to use Nova bombs.

It was only moments later that the whole Citadel network was hacked, the reports from the UCAF filing in about the destruction of a whole fleet and the deaths of thousands of turians at the hands of the UCAF, they watched as the feedback systems overrode control of the networks, there was only image of the UCAF butchering the turians, and the same message to the council races and to the galaxy. "We are death incarnate…"

XXXX

(Oh Yeah, thank you all, now we're just one more chapter before I have to call this quits for about 1 month, I'm sorry guys, but I need to get other things done ASAP so long…)

XXXX

MLP FiM/Gundam: Lunar Rebellion!

It has been 100 years since the end of Nightmare Moon; however her legacy had not ended, a new threat comes from the darkness of the moon, and now the elements of harmony must face the great threat of the Nightmare Armies, mobile suits and advanced ships being used to fight and Equestrians at war! Twilight Sparkle must now pilot the EXA-Unicorn Gundam; along with the other elements which battle by her side can Equestria be saved from destruction at the hands of the Nightmares of Discord?

(Someone asked if I would do something besides a Halo/ME fic, well here it is! My new master piece, I think I'm becoming a bronny which in truth doesn't seem that bad, I like ponies... that's somewhat weird for a 18 year old to say… I dunno)


	5. Chapter 5

CH5

XXXXX

Reckoning…

XXXXX

1 month later…

UCAF fleets now gathered at the Arcturus station command, the new space colony had been constructed during the war but had not seen much use due to light defences; it was mainly required to function as a refuelling and security depot for UCAF ships returning from the battlefields. It was now that this station was being put to full use, 500 ships from the 9th reserve fleet and sector command had ordered to come here to prepare for the final assault to retake UCAF space and then rush the turian defences into their own space.

There were 2.5 million troops now present with an extra reserve of 5 million aboard the station; they'd be deployed over the length of time the assault into the Traverse. Spartan companies from the 11th and 10th had been called in with the new 12th leading the assault, over 9 regiments of helldivers from multiple divisions had been recruited for the operation, and tens of thousands of armoured vehicles and air craft were also joining the frontal attack.

Jack watched from his port side operation command at the sheer number of vessels preparing to avenge the UCAF colony of Shanxi, the turians were going to be facing the best of the UCAF and the heavies weapons that they could dish out. He had heard rumours that the New Covenant had also begun to move, though Inheritor Vincent has requested that no Advent class psychic enter the war due to an unfair advantage in the field of using their quantum manipulative fields to win battles.

New Covenant vessels were said to be led by Grand Arbiter Thel Vadamee and Supreme Commander Rtas, the covenant wished to have a slow impact due to their fragile system, they had only begun reformation in the covenant 4 years ago, things were still very fragile. Covenant support was going to be gradual but in the meantime the UCAF was to fight this war on its own.

Jack watched as the final preparations went under way for the 30 MS battalions being loaded with new armaments, the R&D departments had been rushing in with thousands of new guns and weapons for the troops, Anomia was pumping out weapons needed for this coming battle. New ships had also been called in, he could see the 25km super cruisers and 20km Mythic class floating near the edge of the docks, millions were going to fight and the turians were going to die, it was a simple concept for the human race.

His thoughts were interrupted as a chime came through his com.  
>"Sir, there's someone here to meet you."<p>

"Right, send them in." He replied.

The doors opened, a young grey haired man stepped in, his black carapace armour practically gleamed in the low lighting, this was a freshman, right from one of the helldiver academies, he mustn't have seen much action, Jack watched as he saluted.

"Now soldier, there's no need for formalities, welcome to Cerberus, who might you be?" Jack asked.

"Sir, Commander Daniel Shepard, UCAF Regimental command had ordered me here to replace one of your previous trooper assignment detachments." He replied.

"Good to have you aboard as part of Cerberus, but I do have to ask."

"What?"

"Why exactly did you sign up for independence command?"

XXXXX

Commander Leon watched as his Spartans gathered below, of the thousands that existed he could see the best of his crop, the 12th battalion, the 5th company which had been under his command had been put back with the battalion and now served with the others. 1100 Spartans were ready to take the war to the turians. They all waited in patient groups inside their work zones, the thousand plus Spartans were going on the offensive and it was an exciting time, this new battalion would be able to finally see action missed by the time of the covenant war had ended.

Leon had no idea but the recent activities had made him somewhat concerned, ONI was hiding something about the greater galaxy and he could feel it, but he had been cautious in the past, he kept his curiosity bottled for now, Dr Haley would contact him if she saw anything that might concern Leon or the other members of the Spartan Alpha division.

He walked over to his new dresser, the MKVI Vindicator Hayabusa had been loaded into its rack, waiting for him, he picked the suit skin and began to suit up, the ship was entering slips-space and he was to take command on the assault of the spearhead into the Attican Traverse, a world called Nova Terra was marked by HIGH COM, it was a planet free for all with council races and others, it was a recent colony and the resources there would supply the UCAF with a core point to extinguish any trouble they might have if they were cut off from UCAF space.

He looked over the reports of the plan, he seemed sceptical as to why the higher ups decided sending 1100 Spartans were even necessary, but with an unknown enemy this was more than necessary. The council races were to break or bend; no one knew what action they'd take once the UCAF began invading the Traverse, so they decided it was better to be well prepared.

Thousands of mobile ODPs were being moved with star forts and space stations, the millions of troops would soon be engrossed with fighting the enemy. The turians were going to pay, either with the deaths of millions for the deaths of millions, an eye for an eye…

XXXXX

"Everyone goes blind."

[Come Sweet Death- Komm, Susser Tod]

Relay 314, hundreds of turian ships waited, the response from the UCAF had been long and agonising, the UCAFs portrayal of the turians merciless destruction of the colony of Shanxi was shown across the galaxy, and then followed the propaganda of the UCAF. They saw the child soldiers being prepared to fight, armies of children taught to kill aliens, how it seemed so simple, how desensitised they became and why they wouldn't give a damn about murdering them.

They saw the thousands of ships and the war propaganda that the UCAF was to take the fight to the turians with an endless supply of soldiers and clones, super soldiers and energy weapons, all seemed to make them nervous. They had never fought a technological super power with a military that could easily dwarf the galaxy's own by 1000 times its own size. The 4.5 billion against the few tens of millions, would it be enough to stop the UCAF?

It was just past a month when things seemed about as quiet as ever, but it didn't mean that everyone wasn't nervous. The fleet schedule was cycling once more as troops were moved around; the whole other side of the relay was reinforced by another fleet while on this end the 240 ships were made to wait out for the UCAF to make its move.

It was then an interference of sorts appeared, a swirling circle of energy appeared in front of the fleet, it seemed anomalous in its creation. They prepared for whatever might come, ships raced into active combat stance and aimed at the swirling ball of slip-space energy, as time passed a small object popped out.

In moments the ships received a communication.  
>"DISTRACTION"<p>

A cross and bone skull of one of a decapitated turian head began laughing. The turians freaked out and began to wonder if this was a sick joke that the humans were playing on them, however they didn't understand that UCAF tactics worked in many ways, for a starter they were pointing the wrong way when the real fleet appeared, and the message was a dead dummy which blinded their sensors.

A whole fleet of UCAF ships appeared from behind and began to fire MACs and endless streams of missiles, the turians were definitely confused as they began to panic, dozens of ships were either destroyed outright by the endless fire or were obliterated by missiles as the UCAF ships closed the distance to begin their second phase of their battle.

It took the turians some amount of time to manage to reposition their fleet to meet the UCAF and began a counter offensive; however that was when the UCAF MS Carriers appeared from behind, this was the same tactic used during the Damocles to methodically wipe the covenant fleet out. 30 carriers unleashed 2 containers of 40 suits each and then began a quick withdrawal. The 2400 suits began an all-out offensive launching shoulder fired missiles and energy lance fire, heavy weapons kicked back as they ripped into the already crippled fleet of turians.

The turians hadn't expected this sort of attack, they assumed that FTL means of the UCAF had to be linear, not non-linear, the attacks barraged the turians into completely muddling themselves to close to each other making them easier targets. The UCAF ships didn't relent from their firing as they launched cluster shells and EMP rounds with HE shells, while the turians were confused, the Spartan Striker divisions launched their offensive into the Traverse, the fleet had been in slip-space for days and moved through the distance from Relay 314 to the other end, they'd wipe out the turians on the other side and begin the main invasion of the Traverse.

Dozens of ships pulled out from flank of the other fleet and launched its surprise, 100 EVAF Spartan Assault Frames, the booster frames began to engage with streams of missiles and rail rounds, and the sight was absolutely terrifying for any naval officer to stare at thousands upon thousands of missiles heading right at you.

The terrified fleet took a desperate manoeuvre to pull away from the oncoming fire, some rammed into other ships and other scrapped against others as the missiles and fire collided, nuclear shells from the rail cannons blew apart whole halves of some vessels while others managed to rip apart other turian ships like paper.

The Spartans were a force to be reckoned with, especially if there were over a hundred of them, the whole battle was over in mere minutes as the turians began to collapse on themselves, ships that remained partially active managed to surrender while others called for help, but the UCAF jammed communications prior to attacking, the council and turian hierarchy wouldn't know of the attack by the time it had passed.

XXXXX

Timeline- 2555

May 2nd

UCAF fleet breaks free from the unknown territory and begins a violent campaign to take the Traverse; much communication is lost as the UCAF cover the region within an unknown ionic compound which works to jam all FTL communications between the council and border colonies.

May 15th

Spartans of the 12th battalion wipe out Batarian slavers within the Traverse and claim that any other attempts of setting slavery or criminal organisations within the Traverse would be met with immediate execution as there was no such thing as innocent aliens.

May 20th

New Covenant fleet arrives in UCAF territory and begins final preparation to aid in assault into the council space. The UCAF pushes the turians off many known worlds and systems and takes over 25 colonies and 30 systems in the Traverse, Eden Prime is captured and left to be colonised along with 4 other fortress worlds, Nova Terra, Calisto, Tyr, and Elysium.

Mindor and Nu Arcadia are formed within months as well as 12 other system colonies, the UCAF freeze traffic control over a number of regions and even cause an incident between them and the Batarian Homogeny, the Batarians attempt a military attack and are repulsed and beaten back, the council cannot ignore the UCAF any further.

June 3rd

The council attempts to contact the UCAF, communications is met by the UCAF battle fleets and the team sent is faced by the UCAF, the UCAF declares that it will not back down as long as the turians gloat their prize over the murder of Shanxi and that the Batarians attempting to claim the planet of Nova Terra and 10 other worlds had no place within the UCAF, they were the enemy.

June 22nd

XXXXX

The violent takeover of half the Traverse was grossly over punctuated with falsifications from the turians and the council races, the UCAF barely lifted much of a finger as many colonise surrendered rather than face a massive fleet of 500 ships, the UCAF worked around the clock to move the whole alien populations from planets and take them to individual worlds where they could be monitored. The Warden systems were made to watch over the few accumulated races within the months the UCAF had taken over the Traverse.

HIGH COM had ordered the immediate investigation of each alien culture and each basis of attitudes of each race to better understand them in the duration of the war. The turians continued to fight over the Traverse, however many surrendered in the following months due to lack of supplies or food, the UCAF also possessed advanced skilled hunter kill teams which wrecked hell upon any attempts at guerrilla warfare.

It was then in the following week that the turians had announced its support for other factions to join the war, the council had gathered all its resources and had supported the turians, now the whole council was divulged in the war. However even the combined races of the council couldn't hold the UCAF back, the UCAF had shown that only 7.5 million of its troops could overwhelm them.

The council had begun to consider consent with the krogans and release them or lower the genophage in order to provide a fighting force once more, the vorcha had also been asked to aid in the war, but with recent events even mercenaries were getting nervous about fighting, they had taken high tolls and ever higher resources losses as the UCAF slaughter them over the whole Traverse.

Operation: Freedom and Faith was to take the enemy lines and form a cohesive barrier, by locating each and every controlled Relay and placing a UCAF blockade ship, whole systems were to be barricaded with star forts and massive defence stations in order to stop any possible attacks from reaching the deeper UCAF forces.

The offensive front was so large that even the UCAF records could not contain every detail of each battle; the main fronts were focused around Elysium, Terra Nova and a front in the Kepler Verge.

XXXXX

Jack turned on his CNI to the HIGH COM committee with the rest of the UCAF planned assault board, 50,000 voices spoke at once arguing and debating the necessary steps into battling the turians and the council and other races. The Kepler Verge was a critical zone as it bordered exactly in the forefront of the Batarian Homogeny and placed a foothold right next door to the Perseus Veil, and in part it would work well should the UCAF have to face off against Omega.

However there was a need for a proper officer to take charge of the assault on the regions near the Kepler Verge and begin a multi field operation to take and hold each position not to mention restrain possible future interventions from the other races. Jack had been asked to volunteer one of his commanders and a single strike force of Helldivers to begin the attack.

From the circular holographic dais of data lines, Jack stated.  
>"Sir, I do have a person who might get this job done, he's new, but he knows the ropes, he fought on Elysium and battled the krogans on Tyr, he's got a damned good count of command."<p>

"Daniel Shepard, hero of Tyr, kills 449, recorded service within UCAF records shows that his family was killed on Shanxi, he's got motivation, and he also commands a company of helldivers in the field, not to mention his own private strike force of selected marines. He's an Independent class freelancer with a damned good record Major. Are you sure you want him to spearhead the Kepler Verge? We don't even know how many turians or krogans or batarians might be standing in between him and taking and successfully securing the Verge."

"Yes, but I know a quality commander when I see one sir, this is the soldier we need." Jack replied adamantly.

There was some silence as the others went into private communion, there was peace and then a single word.  
>"Approved."<p>

XXXXX

Arcturus station docking bay 9

Shepard awoke from his sleep, he had been on the train when it left sector H22, it was now at his needed location, he lazily walked down from the station and sobered up, and he could see the massive entrance and signed in with his key card. Once he passed the necessary locks he arrived inside the main docking bay, over 1km long and made just for a single frigate.

The sight before him was an impressive one, the 550m Freedom and Faith, the newest stealth frigate class with some of the newest weaponry and equipment the UCAF could afford for this new operation. He was in command of one company of helldivers and 2000+ other marines, but they were under command of other personnel, there was also Captain Anderson who was in charge of the ship and him.

He walked all the way passed the work crews and lorry lifts, the mass of tanks and ammunitions being packed and the 4 T80-Tarantula Spider Tanks. He was amazed that the UCAF was bringing out the big guns, he could see hundreds of marines and tanks and other vehicles being loaded, this whole operation was being spearheaded by him and 2 fleets, Kepler had been the target of the operation since the batarians had threatened the UCAF with nuclear fire, so they decided to wipe out the bases and secure a defensive line before they arrived.

This operation was also to see a rumour about a forerunner artefact found on one of the worlds. There had also been talks of seeing a race called the quarians out in the region, he had heard that the quarians are some wandering species absolutely terrified of AI and hated the UCAF and human race for using them, he couldn't imagine what they could have against the UCAF, but it seemed that their technophobia is misplaced.

He honestly couldn't care at this point, aliens were aliens, who knew why they even bothered with half the crap that they did, the UCAF was just trying to secure its borders and stop the events such as Shanxi from happening again. There were also rumours that the turians had been doing some experimentation on captured humans and it needed to be stopped or destroyed or both, and with other things, they even say a Halo was found not too long ago.

He didn't know what to make of the rumours, but if one or so were true, then they had to intervene or risk something horrible happening, but so far ONI hadn't been even near here, so chances were that most of these rumours were just BS.

Daniel arrived at the lower bays of the ship, dull grey plating and plenty of room, marines milled about and talked, and he could see some familiar faces, the troops of his command squad, they didn't bother talking as he could see a few of them were still new, and since he had lost 4 of the original 10 he once had. But it was still good to see his some familiar faces from the front lines.

He walked through to the lifts and went through from the hangar bay to the bridge, upon arrival he was greeted by a good old face.  
>"Captain Anderson, it's good to see you again sir."<p>

The tan skinned young officer smiled and said.  
>"Likewise Shepard, thought you didn't make it out from Elysium, heard about Tyr, amazing work commander."<p>

"So, I assume that you know what's happening with the Kepler Verge?" He asked.

"Ontarom, the first planet of the Newton system, it's supposed to be a new world with plenty of habitable places, its moon however was in a decaying orbit, that was until we moved it." He stated.

"What?" Shepard asked.

"A MAC round went wide and hit the moon, the kinetic force didn't shatter much of the surface, but it ended up knocking it well into an odd orbit, the UCAF stabilised the moon, but afterwards we had to withdraw when 3 fleets from the turians pushed us out. A week ago a single team went back and made sure to clear the turians out, but the moon and the planet have proven harder to take than we initially thought, HIGH COM wants us to remove the turians on Ontarom, we don't need to worry about the moon since another force is being sent to deal with them, but we need to secure the settlements on the planet due to its wealth of resources and position, we'd be on the border with the Terminus systems and we can keep an eye out for any incoming surprises that the batarians might throw at us." Anderson explained.

"But there's a catch?" Shepard asked.

Anderson sighed and brought up a holographic map of the region.

"12 settlements and about 4 regiments of turians are in between us and taking the planet, we decided that a front line attack will be required with 2 regiments and your spearhead team, we need to take the ground as soon as possible, along the coastal regions 2 cities are placed in the path of our flank to wipe across the turians lines. A few companies will drop in advance and take the towns just north of those coastal cities and hold out for you. We've got a whole regiment moving up on that beach and we need you to clear it for our bastions to keep watch. Also there's a warning out that the planet happens to have a number of asari militia and one Spectre out there known as Nihlus, we need you to know what that Spectre is up to, bring him in alive if you can." Anderson finished.

"What's so important about these spectres?" Shepard asked.

An image of the spectre Nihlus appeared.

"The spectres are special operatives who work for the council, they only respond to the council and their loyalties are to the council. That said they can do whatever they want, and because of that their actions can be quite devastating against us should they decide to cut losses and nuke us. We need to know what's so important about this spectre on the planet." Anderson replied.

"Yes sir. Should I prepare an APC?"

"No, we've got something rather interesting to give you for this mission." Anderson grinned.

XXXXX

The UCAF Amphibious APC, the Water Strider was a sure sight, it was about the length of a Aires gunship and had about as many guns as one could fit, a rough metal mesh covered the roof, and there was a dozen exits, the front and the sides. The Strider was propelled by a pelican making a drop manoeuvre meant for ADST and would send the Striders moving on inertia and jet air propulsion towards the enemy beachhead at high speeds.

The APCs were used during the covenant war when the UCAF had to assault coastal regions as their pelicans had been too vulnerable to enemy fire. The UCAF however disbanded the construction of many of the APCs as the war came to a close, many were just left as they were and forgotten seeing as many battles later were fought on land rather than sea.

Shepard had a feeling as though he was going to have a first-hand experience in storming beaches now. He watched as team mates walked around taking in the sights of the old fashioned water traps, which literally meant death traps for those who go caught when the enemy began firing. Shepard looked around, around roughly 160 of these death traps were going to be used in this operation for his battalion alone, and he wondered what the other 2 regiments were going to have to deal with.

His thoughts were interrupted as someone came running past.  
>"Dammit ERIC!"<p>

A black haired officer chased a younger curly haired marine down the hangar bay, the black haired man seemed to have whipped cream on his face while the young marine laughed and ran as fast as he could. Shepard felt that he was going to have an interesting time to get to know each of these troops.

The helldivers milled around their vehicles, their Cerberus talon logos hung off them like trophies, it was a great thing to end up part of the UCAF helldivers and engage in the war, it was also good that those who joined were always welcomed to continue with support and combat drugs. Matthew and his killing rage had set his mind straight; don't do drugs especially the Fury drugs, those things mess up troopers like no tomorrow.

XXXXX

3 days later…

5 ships exited from slip-space above the world of Ontarom, the turian fleet in orbit began to engage as the UCAF opened up. MACs began to tear into plated hulls and missiles pounded on the exterior plating of the turian ships. A few were destroyed and the rest quickly drove to engage the UCAF vessels, fighters and bombers launched into the fray and danced around with grace and lethal speeds.

2 ships detached from the battle, the Faith and the Freedom, the two ships began to send its troops to the surface, and 7500+ marines went downwards to engage the enemy. Battery fire and HEVs burned through the atmosphere and the pelicans began their trajectory to the planet, they needed to engage the turians and severe their control, once then the UCAF could defend the system and ensure that the turians didn't use this in their offensives again.

Daniel had gotten to know his marines well, his team and the platoon now present were all familiar with him. He watched as the Aires carriers headed through the cloud layer and over the oceans of Ontarom, they were closing the distance quickly, he buckled down and his fellow troopers did the same. The sounds of AA fire and missiles were all too familiar, but they weren't hit.

"Okay, we're opening up in 2 minutes…" The APC driver yelled.

The nervous looks of the marines were enough to convince Daniel that they were as normal as he was, the helldivers aboard the APC were veterans who didn't do much and the marines were the ones who looked nervous for what was coming. He himself wasn't concerned too much about facing the turians on the field again, or the enemy batteries. He checked the sights on his AR carbine and made sure to double check his grenades, the turians were going to be heavily defending that beach when they arrived.

"30 seconds…"

He watched as the water now came close, the drop and then they felt the inertia take over, the water rushed past incredibly fast, the shield bearers got into the front and prepared to cover out in 2 by 2 formations, the side doors clicked and the front slowly began to open. They were blinded not by the glare but the enemy fire, a stray shell detonate not 5 feet from their APC.

And then they came, the enemy machine guns, the shield bearers charged out as soon as the APC crashed unto the shores of the beach. They piled out in a fast and rough formation, bullets and MA rounds pinged off of the UCAF shield bearers and the armoured suits of the helldivers. Daniel rushed out with his marines and watched as hundreds to thousands of fellow marines were doing the same thing as he was, ducking and covering as bullets zipped overhead.

He crashed over to a barricade, the turians had a dozen pillboxes and a number of murder holes prepared in advance, a large amount of metal bunkers held fire off from reaching the gunners as they fired with mounted turrets, the MA rounds dented a number of resonator armour types of the marines, but not the helldiver suits, shields were still capable of taking some of the pressure off.

Shepard ran into a turian trench where the marines had overrun, the turians hadn't expected such a large force to hit them. The marines were butchering those inside the trench and ploughing into the enemy bunkers and pillboxes. Teams went around and cleared out some of the bunkers with grenades, his helldivers went around with torch wrists and cleared the bunkers out with ease, hundreds of turians were getting hammered in by the marines by now, they could cause some damage if they had space, but still the UCAFs skill was to close the distance with ease.

Shepard went on advancing with his marines to the top of the turians defences, he watched as they torched the enemy bunkers with fury. He fired at a group trying to fall back; the troops went around in squads and followed through taking out the turians. Shepard reached the outskirts of the settlement that had been mentioned, it was quaint if not a little bit hostile.

Gunfire and explosions followed as the marines began to siege the settlement with explosives and gauss rounds. Shepard removed his new armament the MI-C81 Gauss repeater. The semi-automatic gauss gun had completed its test run about 1 month before and was now being distributed to all UCAF regiments and companies. The gauss repeater was a bit bulkier than that of a AR Carbine, it had also a slower recoil, but had the option of a 3 burst fire system which had a light amount of kick, it fired off 3-1 shots of heavy energised shells at ½ the speed of light and had the firepower to put most enemy vehicles out of commission.

Shepard fired in sharp bursts as the turians began to fight in the streets, he ducked and fired until a blue ball of energy caught one of the marines by the arm and tore it to shreds. He screamed as the asari revealed herself, Daniel didn't waste any time, firing in sharp bursts at the alien he blew apart her kinetic barriers and unloaded a single shot into her head.

"Sir, we'll be going separate ways from here, just continue on this road to the west and you'll reach helldiver squads 1-3, they'll be near the enemy plaza, from there you'll be able to reach your target destination." Sargent Stone stated.

Shepard thanked him and headed off.

XXXXX

Nihlus watched with a grim expression, the whole battle had become a nightmare, the lunar base had been wiped out and the fleet was in ruins once more, the UCAF had broken through and were now swarming his position, he'd be finished before he could manage to get the message back the to the council about the artefact, the marker had shown him where the artefact was, but he didn't know how to tell them, Saren was too far away and most of the ships were gone, as well as communication, there just wasn't a way.

He sighed, if this was how death was going to be at least he wouldn't give the UCAF the information to the artefact. It was then he heard explosions and a number of troops firing, had the UCAF already reached him? He pulled his pistol and aimed it at the door, his guards fired and screamed, but there was no familiar clacking of the UCAF heat shells hitting the floor, instead he could hear a soft humming very melodically coming from the doorway.

It was then that the doors slid open, but there was no one there, his scanners showed that no one was there; he knew it wasn't hacked because it would shut down. He scanned his surroundings; he had a bad feeling that something wasn't right about this. He moved to the corridor and was shocked to see the troops, dozens were bleeding over the floor, their eyes were bleeding out of their sockets along with their mouths, and their auditory nerves seemed also to be bleeding. Something must have sent sonic screeches into their ears and burst their nerves inside their heads.

Nihlus felt very nervous, he backed away and then he heard.  
>"Hello… I'm Miku."<p>

XXXXX

Helldivers gathered on the roof of the plaza overlooking the enemy complex, it was unguarded which seemed odd and most of the enemy troops had either been killed or otherwise screaming in pain on the floor of the base. Shepard wondered what the hell could have possibly have done that, but he just continued to move with the other helldivers, they needed to capture the enemy spectre. They jumped from the roof of the plaza and landed down on the ground floor, they searched that all enemies had been accounted for before moving in.

But when they approached the door it opened, they swung their weapons to face whoever was coming out of the door. A young blue haired woman strode with the spectre in tow, she smiled and said.  
>"Lower your guns, I am Miku-03 of the Aegis corps, your prisoner is here, I just made sure that the mission went off without a hitch." She grinned.<p>

Shepard had an odd feeling, not a good one but a suspicion.  
>"How did you get here so fast?"<p>

"I was dropped in by HEV; command didn't want to waste a chance to bag this thing so they sent me to ensure that it went without a hitch." She said as she walked off humming to herself.

Shepard knew of the Aegis corps, they were cyborgs and androids which worked as covert ops for the ONI during certain occasions, they also happen to be all female and of course something else… the UCAF marines constantly made jokes about the Aegis corps for that reason. Shepard just felt as though something was wrong. He just knew it.

XXXXX

In the following days the UCAF marines tackled the other settlements and quickly secured Ontarom for the UCAF fleet to begin constructing defences around it, the planet was now a shield location, which meant a safe zone as well as an outpost. But Shepard and his troops work wasn't done yet, they had other missions to accomplish later…

ONI HQ-Feros

"So it's begun hasn't it?" Thora asked.

"Why wouldn't it? The light bringers predicted it over 100,000 years before, their return and out demise, but I do believe that fate has played its hand." Thira said.

"Yes, the chosen shall complete their task; they are the children of the heavens. They are the Reclaimers, and they shall acclimate their will to the light, and we shall guide them to it. For it is as was prophesised."

The Magi nodded, the Thorians agreed, this was the future set in motion, the beginning and the end, for the light shall return, either in force or within peace.

XXXXX

Somewhere else…

Helldivers 81st watched carefully from their post, the observation could not be compromised, the turians were getting closer. The air reeked of decaying flesh, and the ground shifted as if it was alive, in a truth it was, but the turians didn't know that. The hidden eyes gazed upon the foolish stumbling of the turians as they blindly crossed through the streams, the flood room was seemingly mysterious and unique, but once they passed the screen there was no going back.

They walked along carefully unsure of what they'd find, this world was strange and entrancing and a dangerous sight. The Turians continued unaware of what dangers laid the sounds of came and died, they walked on and soon found themselves in a room, empty of all things besides a single funnel; it glowed luminously and attracted their attention like flies.

One touched its surface and it then spoke out.  
>"You are not chosen, you must die."<p>

The turians were then swarmed by the sounds of the skitters crawling from every corner and sight, the aliens screamed in panic and horror as their flesh was stripped off of their armour, they dropped and rolled in pained panic, but that did not save them. The helldivers watched and waited knowing that they could not be touched, the foolish turians and their blind centred luck. This world was not theirs to take or touch, so the helldivers waited and watched.

But this was only the beginning of another horror, one that would bring havoc upon the stars…

XXXXX

Saren read the reports again, the war was being lost over the whole region, and he and so few remained, turians who prided the slaughter of Shanxi and those who sought the end of the human race, their foul fighting and gruelling consumption of life had becoming a living weight. Saren had seen what passed through daily now, the UCAF and their killer ways, millions die and the turian suffer, Palaven was regarded as a birthing ground for murders and haters like General Terius, but he was a mere hedge stone within all of this.

"Sovereign, how long have you been waiting?" He smiled as he looked at the sight before him.

The large dark structured chitin glimmered in the light; he smiled as the machine came to life…

XXXXX

(I might be able to squeeze one more chapter, or maybe not… hope you enjoyed, plenty more to come… later)


	6. Chapter 6

CH6

XXXXX

Come sweet death…

XXXXX

UCAF Faith

It took 5 days to take the Kepler Verge but it was worth the fight, the UCAF was not reinforcing the system with a dozen ships, he heard that there was still some fighting over the region but not to the greatest extent that it was serious. He was now being reassigned for another duty.  
>"The Matano system sir?" Shepard asked slightly confused.<p>

Anderson nodded.  
>"It was an emergency call from HIGH COM that something happened in the Matano system approximately 3 days ago, on one world known as Chasca there was a report of an unknown attack on an outpost, the frigates in orbit battled it out with the enemy but they couldn't identify the hostiles, they need you and your team to move as soon as possible, and also to prepare for the worst case scenario."<p>

Shepard's stomach knew what that meant.  
>"Is it condition zero sir?"<p>

Condition zero was protocol for flood, the first and foremost threat that had to be eliminated should there be a serious breach. If that was zero, Shepard was walking into a death trap with an unknown number of flood infection forms and possible flood components, he'd have to manually deal with all flood threats and report if the colony is lost.

Anderson levied his fears.  
>"Not as I can tell, HIGH COM hasn't reported if it was condition zero, but they do want to make this a priority."<p>

"Yes sir." Shepard saluted.

XXXXX

Shepard found himself in the hangar of the Faith once more, troops doing as they had before, just a few more body bags to add to the list and the rest didn't look back. He knew that this was a new war, but something didn't sit right, he just couldn't put his finger on it. He observed his surroundings, he could see tank commanders and pilots discussing the merits of space capable vehicles and fighters, all sorts of things were being talked about between the troops.

He could see that he was the only one alone, it was better this way, he hadn't spoken to Alvin or the others of his previous strike squad for various reasons. The helldivers looked out themselves. And they never looked back once one died; it was just the way they lived. Joining the Cerberus regiment Shepard found that his skills were set, he was still fresh to commanding helldiver teams and managing the battle on his own, he liked the lone wolf act only because he deserved it, he wanted to do things on his own and see how far he could take the fight, only when he knew that things were bad would he decide to trust his life with others.

He took his mind off the whole subject and looked at his hands, they were scratched and scarred from his training and fighting, before they would have looked as normal as any other one of these young troops back on their homeworld. He closed his eyes and prayed quietly to himself, the UCAF would be sacrificing so much in order to gain so little.

XXXXX

Elysium- Fort Alexander

The battles raged on outside the fortress base of Alexander, ash coated the grounds that were once green, and smoke drifted in unknown volumes. Commander Leon watched with an unbreakable gaze at the sight around him, the troops around on the main battle field fought viciously against the turian hierarchy troops, explosions were a constant which followed along with endless shouting and screaming. He could see a trooper grab a turian and pull a grenade and blow himself to hell.

The air was rife with the smell of blood and sweat, it was then he turned away from the field and went back inside the base, he could see troops moving left and right and medics tending to the wounded and dying, but none forgot to salute him. He moved along down towards the CIC, there hundreds of officers of multiple ages read through reports and took actions to deal with the battle, female tactical intelligence officers predicted the enemies movements and began to react accordingly to counter enemy assaults. AI appeared to send and move messages over to HIGH COM.

Looking over at some of the battle reports he learned that thousands of turians had landed on the far east of the battlefield, they were quickly making their way over to the battle, a marauder battalion was ordered into countering the enemy advance and repelling them as soon as possible. The UCAF marines had been held out here for about 2 weeks now, enemy assaults had been relentless due to a sworn promise that the turians had made to push the UCAF off of Elysium.

Leon couldn't see a damn thing that the turians were doing which wasn't annoying the marines or causing them to hate them ever more. But things were going to change, he waited, and now he was ready.  
>"Commander Ranumee, you may begin your attack."<p>

There as a flash of light as the covenant ships responded, dozens of new signals and images appeared on the sensor network as they began their attack on the turians lines, hundreds of drop pods made contact and signals began to swarm the turian lines.

XXXXX

Ranumee felt the re-surface of his thirst for battle, he leapt into the field without question and began a systematic slaughter of the covenant troops, his golden armour had been changed to a low silver and grey in order to blend him in with his fellow warriors, he was as strong as any and as skilled, but he was equal to all of them and they felt the same.

His wrist shield activated, the hexagonal field deflected the incoming mass accelerator rounds, he smashed the shield into the closest turian and brought his other arm around to grasp another and crush its neck with his enhanced strength. More turians were turning their fire towards the covenant troops and elites. Ranu jumped as a grenade landed a few feet from his position, he rushed into the ground of the turian lines and changed his shield settings, the shield soon transformed to the tip into a sharp talon. He jumped over to the enemy lines and struck a dozen blows upon them, many fell but his shield was close to collapse.

Taking shelter from enemy fire he waited as the battle progressed, the turians began to surround his position, and he smiled as he called in support. A sharp whine came from the skies and his enemies faced the Ultra-rangers, 5 rangers with advanced ultra-class armour slammed into the turian lines, these ultras were the equivalent of the UCAF helldivers, they were just faster and lighter armed, but they had an impressive CQC record.

The ultras made short work of the turians, their landing placed them right on top of the turians, they never saw what hit them as energy daggers ripped into the suits of the turians or the rapid fire of dual wielded plasma repeaters shredding into the bodies of the unfortunate creatures. Ranu joined the battle once his shields recharged, he brought his plasma carbine bear from one arm, the mixed shape of the weapon made it look like a needler and a plasma rifle mixed into one, but looks could be deceiving, the weapon fired out heavy bursts of concentrated plasma charges.

The battle quickly became a nightmare for the turians as they battled the lethal killers. As the turians began to retreat Ranumee yelled.  
>"For the Forerunners, for the chosen!"<p>

XXXXX

Matano- Chasca

The UCAF Faith dropped from slip-space into real space once more, the swirling vortex shut behind it as it began to prepare for the drop. Scanners showed no sign of enemy presence, but Anderson didn't take any risks he kept sweeping over the region and ordered Shepard down to his bird, the mission was a go.

Shepard rattled in his boots as he felt the re-entry; they had exited past the atmosphere and were closing quickly upon the target location of the recorded incident. It was reported that 450 colonial marines were supposed to have been stationed on the planet, along with 50 scientists from ONI working in the field of understanding something's from an ancient race, not forerunner, he didn't ask what else might have been there, but it was kept confidential.

Daniel checked his squad count; this was a short mission so only 10 were present, his squad and their APC driver. They were packed inside of the Cougar APC, with 2 manning guns and turrets while the rest mingled with each other about thoughts on the mission, Daniel could see a couple of veteran marines amongst his new squad, they didn't seem as aggressive as the other helldivers, but they were enthusiastic.

When the Aires reached the drop point it released the clamps and allowed the APC to free fall 10 meters. The shock absorbers and low inertia fields dampened the drop allowing the squad to fell only a slight jolt. Once on the ground they began their search through the plains, the area was vast; it reached from endless valleys and canyons to overhead plateaus and ridges. Daniel didn't waste his time recording the sights; he focused upon the task at hand. The nearest colony bunker was located about 4.5km in one direction.

They travelled the distance quite easily, Daniel watched as a few of his troopers whispered about things about him, he knew these troopers were happy to have a trooper, and he had a motive, to fight in memory of the family he once had on Shanxi.  
>"Sir, we're coming up on the colony base now, no transponder signals are reacting though."<p>

"Okay, stop at 250m from the base we're going on by foot." Daniel replied.

The Cougar stopped in its tracks and allowed the team to disembark, Shepard headed out with 3 others from the squad, and they were just going to take a closer look at what might have happened at the colony before making a move. Daniel activated his combat gear and brought out the VISR system; thanks to years of upgrades he had a tactical view of all things around him. He could see the target locations and make out enemy positions.

He brought out the IFF systems and began to search for any friendly transponders within the base. His scans brought out a number of moving targets but no heat signatures, he then took to using the optical camera to make out what was going on, he could see strewn bits of metal and crates with remains of vehicles, he then picked out what seemed to have been the remains of one of the warthogs, there was someone still on it, but when he scanned the body he noticed something was wrong, the body wasn't registering as alive, it was moving, but it wasn't alive.

"This is Independent Actual to Faith." Daniel called.

"Go ahead commander, what's the situation?" Anderson asked.

"I've got my sights on what seems to be bodies, I've confirmed that all personnel do not register as alive, but something's wrong, bodies are still active I can see movement over the whole base, but there's no heat signatures and signals respond as null." He stated.

"Take immediate action, get to the base and if necessary use force, we need to know what's happened, and as I said this is a protocol zero action if the base is overrun." He reminded Shepard.

Shepard turned off his com and began his approach, his team mates followed in tow, he signalled that the Cougar look out for anything and to come to their aid should something go horribly wrong. They made the 250 walk with ease, but as they got closer to the derelict structure it was apparent that there was a fight, heat casings and remains of magazines were strewn across the ground, there was no sign of life. They managed to get to the barricade and to the sights of what seemed to be a body, it was mutilated and it was young.

"Poor bastards, what they hell could have done that?" One marine asked.

"No idea, but I'm guessing we're about to find out." Shepard replied.

The warthog that was nearby had a body this time it didn't look mutilated, this was had lines growing across its back, the body was strangely glowing an ominous blue colour. Shepard proceeded to poking the body with his hand, to which the body responded rather quickly. A hand lashed out as the once human now looked at them with glowing eyes, part of his face had decayed and what looked like a probe had been shoved into his forehead.

Shepard yelled. "CONTACT!"

The marines opened up on the once human, the body was torn to shreds by the combined fire, but then there came the sounds, screeching and howling, they turned to see the corpses of others getting up and running at them, the troops fired in streams cutting down the moving corpses. Shepard could see the 50 or so member of the UCAF personnel roster on his HUD; they had all been killed and changed.

He could see that the armour plating on some of the marines were still active, he yelled.  
>"Support!"<p>

A loud crash and dozens of bodies were strewn across the earth; the shell had blown a clear hole for the team to retaliate properly. The APC was closing the distance as it fired its main gun in covering rounds to protect them, Shepard deflected and blocked many strikes while keeping his weapon trained on the once humans, they were piling up like decaying husks.

He fired off another burst into a still twitching corpse of what was once a marine, the signatures showed that all were down, he made contact again with Faith.  
>"Sir contacts neutralised, I've confirmed it isn't flood, but something else, no idea but it seems to be a type of cybernetic parasite, unlike that of a flood spore it isn't effective in altering their bodies but controlling them, I just checked out what seems to be puncture points, possibly caused during the attack, I advise that the colony be placed under immediate sanction section 334- Delta."<p>

"Roger that Commander, clear out those things and make sure to look for survivors we cannot afford to lose any personnel that may have survived." Anderson replied.

Shepard motioned for the troops to the door; they opened it up past the lockdown codes and entered with the lead gunner clearing the way. They made their way through the empty rooms, some still had blood splatters others were bare, and some consoles were still active, someone had been trying to access the UCAF records without success, this meant that the internal systems AI network was still working, the auto defences were running.

It took another 10 minutes of gathering useless information until they arrived at the rear of the facility, it was here in this large room that they found what they were after, a single shape that made them feel more than uncomfortable, it was a disturbing shape of a predator, not human, it had an agile shape with its head and long serrated talons which glimmered in the light of the room. It was busy trying to access the AI mainframe.

Shepard made his move carefully edging behind it, he spread the squad around, he loaded a shock round and ordered the others to use AP rounds, and they took aim, and on his command fired. The concentrated bursts startled the machine as it jerked to see the attack, the rounds blew chunks of armour and plating, it hissed and fired back, dual mass accelerator rifles sending sporadic shells back at us; it used its mouth and charged up an energy burst.

Daniel ducked as it washed over his head, his shield burst almost immediately, he got back up and began to close the distance, he charged up his wrist blades and made his move, the troops fired at the head and took out the energy projector. Landing on its body Shepard tackled the machine with his augmented strength and rammed it into the wall of the base; the force crippled the legs and allowed him to place the blades between its ribcage and head. The machine knocked him back and then started to scream in pain, he left a plasma fuse in its torso. Seconds later the chest exploded.

Shepard was helped up by one of the troops, they examined the body, taking samples and sending them back up, and Shepard severed the head of the machine and made sure to lock it away in order to reduce risks that it might get back up later. He led the team into the next sets of rooms without luck, they kept their eyes peeled for similar units, but found none.

It was then that they found something in the com hub, a data pad with records of the unknown contacts, and there was something else. A beacon that was recorded at sectors 399-223 it was a life pod from an asari representative pod, it was from a ship passing through when it was shot down.

XXXXXX

After exiting the base they headed off into the direction of the second base, the situation was similar only exception being that it had some scientific data on the planet's natural geosphere and something about minerals, but nothing of value was there, Daniel just made sure to get personal logs sent to their families or to whoever was left. He headed off to the next place which was the escape pod and then to the final site of the UCAF base colony.

The region that they had to head through was surprisingly bumpy it didn't even have stable landmass it was s straight shot over the grounds with endless groves which made talking nearly impossible. One marine yelled. "Who the fuck thought that this was a good idea?"

They arrived over the final steep climb and then headed towards what looked like a single structure with a pyramid; it was a UCAF base camp that was abandoned some time before, the escape pod lay about a few hundred meters away down the slope. Daniel checked the sensors, it seemed that the pod was void of anything moving, either that or the occupants were dead or at the mystery camp site. "Let's check that escape pod first, and then we'll make our way to the camp."

It came as no surprise when they found that the escape pod was empty, it still gave them a clue that there were survivors so that was an interesting turn of events. They headed over to the camp then, it didn't take long, and it was just up on a steep hill which took about 5 minutes of hard driving to overcome, gravity was really annoying on some planets. When they finally reached the base camp they found it void of anyone outside.

Shepard carefully exited the APC and checked around; the few prefabs set up in between the time the UCAF arrived and was mysteriously slaughtered remained functional. They searched one building but found it empty, and then when they were just about to head to the next. A ping bounced clean off of one of the other marines, he yelled out.

"What the fuck?"

Troops whirled around to the source of the fire and found that it was the second prefab that was occupied as a dozen more shots rang out. They all took cover and Shepard yelled.  
>"Hold your fire, this is UCAF Commander Daniel Shepard of the 88th helldivers, confirm either friendly or put down your weapons, if you do not comply we will kill you."<p>

It took moments before someone yelled.  
>"My bad commander, this is private Walter Thorpe UCAF Colonial Frontier marine. I've got 2 fellow marines and one wounded science officer, 5 others with me, all non-human."<p>

"Okay, open the door we're coming over." He shouted.

The hab opened up the trooper stepped out and waved to them, they all left their cover and headed over, taking in sights they found that the trooper as he was. He saluted and the marine did likewise.  
>"Sir, we've been stuck here for 4 days now, I'm glad to see that HIGH COM hadn't forgotten about us."<p>

"Don't worry marine, but where's the rest of your detachment?" He asked.

He moved aside to show 2 other marines and one wounded science officer.  
>"We're all that remains sir, about 4 days ago we were ordered out here to search for a crashed pod, and then we got ambushed when we were heading back, the base reported to stay out here and not return, we had 10 in our squad, and the sarge got killed when we were roaming around. We've just stayed here after we had nowhere left to hide." The marine explained.<p>

"Okay, do you know what happened at base camp 3?"

"Base 3 was lost first, we heard over the coms that a pod the size of a locust had impacted just outside the base with a dozen unknown hostiles, we heard there was some serious fighting, but after 30 minutes base camp 3 went dead and the others followed." He replied.

Shepard thought about what had happened, he could see that there were civilian aliens much to his somewhat apprehension, he decided to ignore it for now. He contacted the ship.  
>"Sir, I've got survivors 4 marines, and I've got 5 non-humans, we need extraction."<p>

Anderson replied a bit stressed.  
>"Commander I would oblige however we've got company 1 large ship appeared, I thought that there was something wrong when there was no trace of the attackers, they acted as part of the debris field, they tricked us long enough to hit our shields we cannot provide support unless you can all get extracted at one point, you need a clear zone and we'll send an Aires."<p>

Shepard replied.  
>"Copy that Faith."<p>

He turned to the marines.  
>"Well looks like we have no choice, Walters we don't have support, they've been engaged in orbit, one enemy ship, unknown class had just cut us off from the Faith we've got incoming in the next few minutes."<p>

"Shit." The trooper replied.

"We'll get the group to move now, we're heading to base camp 3, no more delays, we need immediate extraction, unless you'd rather wait for the unknowns to make mincemeat of us?" he said.

The troopers agreed and headed off to the Cougar, however an alien was busy trying to heft a heavy case behind her, the blue skinned being asked.  
>"Could you please help with this?"<p>

Shepard took the case and motioned to hurry, the box was heavy.  
>"What the hell is this?"<p>

"Prothean relics, starcharts and archives, they were here when we arrived, I thought checking up on them would be better than doing nothing, thank you for the help." She said.

"I ain't here to talk about alien artefacts I'm here to make sure you're alive to be sent back as soon as possible, that's just out of hospitality and annoyance…" He replied.

She looked at him and said.  
>"Oh…"<p>

When they piled into the Cougar they heard the skies begin to whistle as hostiles made their presence known, 3 objects collided with the earth a few hundred meters away. The shapes were large blue 4 legged creations, their eyes glowed and they began to fire beams of energy at the Cougar, the APC jolted rapidly out of the way, the shields took a few glancing hits but not enough to burn the plates.

"Tucker, get on the gun and cover us." Shepard yelled.

The trooper replied and began to fire the large dual gauss mounted Anti-tank gun with machine gun attachment, the weapon kicked back with a sharp crack as the shells obliterated a target, it was then that the alien constructs charged forwards; one even created a shield of sorts and fired again. The marine fired back but the shells now impacted on some sort of shield or field. He gave them a few bursts of the Vulcan guns and then hit them with another gauss shell.

They drove over the ridged mountain tops and down over the edge of one, the drop was cushioned, but still one marine managed to hit his head with the roof. They drove at best speeds to the base, the marine continued to fire backwards in some hope to take down the enemy constructs fast enough. They drove through continued fire, it was then when they passed through a valley the marine landed a double shot on the last hostile and blasted it to hell.

"Alright, now we just need to get to the base…" The marine was horrified by what he saw.

A massive creature was waiting for them at the base; it had eight legs and enough glowing eyes to have been mistaken for some sort of beetle, Shepard heard Tucker swear.  
>"Oh fuck berries."<p>

The massive construct wasn't as big as a scarab, but it was sure as hell fast, it moved with all eight legs and began to fire concentrated beams from its head, the beams themselves were endless and slow but they sure as hell as dangerous, and to top that off it had shields. Shepard made sure to avoid being struck; they couldn't reach the underside making the usual combat tactics of defeating this thing almost impossible. They had to hit it from some other manner.

One of the asari scientists observed the creature with surprise and interest and a tinge of fear, but she saw something, she brought up her Omni tool and then figured it out.  
>"Commander Shepard was it?"<p>

He banked hard and knocked everyone sideways, she continued a little perturbed.  
>"There's a weakness that you can exploit, the head isn't like that of the rest of the body, the machine has to lower its shields around the head in order to fire at us, the head is connected to the main drives of the machine, if you can strike its head enough times it will be most likely incapacitated or it would be destroyed."<p>

Shepard couldn't see any problem with listening to the alien so he said.  
>"Okay, Tucker fire at the head when it begins to fire. Just make sure to get as many strikes in, because we're really running low on time here."<p>

"Oh great, now I have to play marksman, has anyone told you I'm a lover not a sniper." He complained.

"Shut up and shoot!" Shepard yelled.

The marine did as he was told and fired at the head carefully, he landed the first strike and made another 2 more, then there were flights of things in the air that were coming down. The last shot crippled the head of the machine and it landed down on its legs, another shot blew apart the head, but the body remained intact.

"Finally, let's get inside the base!" He yelled.

They stopped outside the doorway; they piled out and rushed inside. The hallways were empty and it seemed that there was no one inside, but they soon came upon number of dead marines and corpses of aliens that they had never seen, one asari then exclaimed.  
>"I know of these beings."<p>

The dead bronze coloured chitin showed signs of damage and puncturing from multiple AR rounds, the bodies inside the base were plenty and so were the marines, these beings seemed to have more advanced weapons than that of the council that was for sure.

"What are they?" Shepard asked.

"Collectors, but they never go beyond the Omega 4 relay; they're supposed to be some kind of unknown super race hidden behind the relay." She stated.

"Well at least we now know that this wasn't some kind of mix up, but what the hell are they doing here?" Shepard asked.

"No idea, the collectors are rarely seen." She replied.

At that moment there was heavy clanking as the doors outside were slowly pried open by something wanting to get inside. Shepard yelled. "Let's move to the roof quickly!"

"Shepard, the Aires is on its way, get to the roof before those things begin to overrun your position." Anderson called over.

"Already on it sir!" Shepard replied as he locked each door behind him.

They ran into the last room, the flight control room, it was here that they found the doors had already been sealed. One marine began to hack, and as soon as they cut through they were met with the barrel of a hysterical marine.  
>"Hold it!"<p>

"Marine calm down!" Shepard yelled.

The trooper looked at them and said.  
>"Trooper Leroy sir, I thought everyone was dead."<p>

"Not us, now put the gun down, we've got an evac coming in less than a few minutes we need to get up to the landing pad." Shepard said as calmly as he could.

The marine put the gun down and said.  
>"Right, okay, I'll go get it sir."<p>

He hurried off and they followed, it seemed that the marine had survived inside the control room for a couple of days; they arrived at the higher level and found that the marine had gotten through the roof and showed them out. They all arrived at the landing pad, about a few meters from the doorway, crates and remaining weapons scattered about, there was an obvious fact that they were in the open. And soon they were swarmed over.

The collectors made their move; buzzing sounds intensified as a dozen landed not far away and began to fire at them. Shepard ducked behind a crate and began to fire off with his AR, the aliens took cover and picked up some UCAF weapons, one turian armed himself with a pistol and fired it to the best of his ability, but recoil was a bitch. The troopers tried to cover the team and they put as much of a fire wall in between them and the time the Aires was set to arrive.

But then as time went down, so came another one of the large alien crab like creatures.  
>"Shit!" Shepard yelled as beams melted the crates he had been hiding behind.<p>

Alvin his sergeant fired off a dozen 25mm HE grenade shells and then took cover, the machine like creature staggered back and sent a shockwave and shielded itself. Shepard continued to chip away at its strength and allowed his sergeant to get another clean shot in before the creature staggered back and died in a billow of smoke.

A loud roar of engines came from the skies as the Aires arrived to pick them up, they all rushed towards the gunship and they entered it while firing sporadically behind themselves. Shepard was the last to board as the platform was hit by an explosive weapon, he was tossed into the air but managed to grab hold of the edge of the metal floor grating, and Tucker helped him inside and closed the door leaving behind the hell hole.

As Shepard froze up as they arrived back at the ship the asari scientist asked.  
>"Are you alright?"<p>

"Déjà vu…" He said.

XXXXX

ONI- Feros

Zhu's Hope

The sun baked the surface of the cloudy world of Feros, the ancient structures of the forerunners held high by the ancient Prothean constructs, it stood out majestically against the backdrop of the sky, a young red haired colonel looked out into this world, he never knew that the aliens had never known how to access this place. It was a good thing to, because of the 3 sisters; their knowledge of the ancients helped them predict what was coming and what was to happen. But the predictions of the saviour had been unknown, a man, and a child? No one knew who the hero was, but he was coming to stop the coming darkness, the reapers and the flood and them…

"So I hear that the rumours are true, did the UCAF colony base in the Matano System get hit by another alien race?" Colonel Andre asked.

The shadows behind him concealed his old friend.  
>"Yes." He replied stoically.<p>

"So what are the HIGH COMs planning now?" He asked.

"Elimination and threat evaluation, but the collectors have already fled from the system when the UCAF Faith arrived, they were just taking a quick look at us, but from what I heard, they were after something."

"How much did they get?" Andre asked.

"About 3 major locations, we're already deploying teams and fleets to those locations, but there's one place that has us concerned." He replied.

"The Warden Systems…"

XXXXX

On the UCAF Faith, Shepard had a nice long debriefing and took a shower, he didn't like the way things turned out, the mission had been a success, but the attack, the aliens he had faced were not normal, they seemed more robotic and the fuckers had a lot harder to penetrate armour, not to mention the weird alien crab things and walker, they were technologically more advanced than that of the council races.

He shrugged the thoughts to the back of his head and decided to just go with the flow of things; it wasn't his place to start asking questions, he was just sent in to deal with the lethal creatures and impossible missions. He headed over to his console and began to review what he had seen, these things were frightening, and it took about 30 minutes before he agreed that he had to adapt his armour to suit the combat. He'd alert the weapons smith to get working on some upgrades when he could; Josh was good at that kind of work.

Packing away his gear he headed out the front door and walked down to the canteen, he was famished, if a word so fancy should be used for a hardened marine. He passed through the front doors and came upon an interesting sight, the hall was empty, and it seemed that the only ones who were present were the youth marines and the aliens. He knew that the marines were ordered to keep their distance, but he never expected them to keep away altogether.

He walked to the front and ordered his food and then sat on a table about a few feet from the aliens, he could hear them talking in whispers and passing glances at him and the young marines. He didn't bother to pass them another look and just focused on food, the steak and hardy potato and vegetable meal was just as it was, good.

He took a drink from his glass of water and then noticed that there was a shadow right above him. He looked up and saw that it was the asari from before, she had been helpful with the APC, he then asked. "Can I help you?" He bit into his steak piece again.

She nervously looked back at her friends and colleagues who eyed her. She then said.  
>"Do you mind if I sit here?"<p>

He then said. "No, that's fine."

He continued eating as she sat down and she dug into her own meal, he was surprised to see that it was a serving of vegetables and some cooked chicken, and there was a side risotto with some sauce, she honestly had no idea what she was eating because she poked at it for a few minutes. (I was really hungry when I wrote this…) He chuckled.  
>"What?" She asked confused.<p>

"You got Jordan's Hui Oriental dish, I think you were hoping for something a little robust?" He asked.

She blushed and said. "Yes, I would have preferred something a little less unique smelling food."

He admitted it too that the Hui dish was meant for those who lived in the Huon Regions, he smiled and said. "I'll take it back for you, if you want, I'd know few things that you might be interested in eating."

She looked about and nodded. "Okay, thanks."

He picked up the dish and took it back to Jordan.  
>"Hey man, you're trying to hit on her aren't you?" Jordan smiled cheekily.<p>

"Fuck off mate, and besides I thought you said you didn't do romance?" Shepard replied.

"Hey I cook and I drive tanks. What else is there to know about romance?" He laughed and brought out something else.

He returned a moment later with 2 bowls and a small side dish; he handed it over to her and said.  
>"Chicken pasta, with a nice Cata salad and a bowl of mayonnaise, it doesn't smell and it is usually good tasting amongst most female officers."<p>

She replied. "Thank you."

He went back to his food and then almost forgot.  
>"Well I know that we hadn't introduced each other, I'm Commander Daniel Shepard."<p>

The asari looked at him and said.  
>"Liara, Liara T'soni."<p>

"Nice name." He replied.

XXXXX

There was a bit of an awkward pause and they went about eating, if they hadn't noticed there were 3 security cameras watching them. Down in the public terminal of Jason Hui the marines laughed.  
>"I bet you anything that they'll be a new couple by next month."<p>

"I bet you 20 bucks that she's going to hit it off with the commander tonight!" One female marine said.

"You're on!" He replied.

There was a chorus of betting and yelling inside the rec room as they watched the commander and his new 'friend'.

XXXXX

Shepard felt as though someone was talking behind his back, he shrugged it off as just as another thing and went back to focusing on the nice brunch he was having. He then asked.  
>"So, a scientist, what area of science do you do?"<p>

"Xeno archaeology in the field, I work as an archive keeper and an engineer, I worked in the field for about 10 years." She replied.

"Rather young don't you think?" He asked.

"Yes I am, being about 120 and being in the field it was considered a momentous task to get through to Thessia's best academy while balancing half of many other things…" She realised that he had no clue as to what she was talking about.

"Sorry I babble off about things…" She said apologetically.

"No need, I think that it was an interesting thing to learn about you, and besides it sounds a lot better than what my life's been like." He said.

"Why is that?" She inquired.

"Because my life was short, lived in a home on Shanxi before the war, then the years at the academy with my brothers and then we got separated as my brothers went off to fight the war, 4 of us originally, 2 of the eldest died when they were fighting on Callistan and my third youngest was killed when we lost Shanxi, my parents were on a shuttle when the nukes struck, I never heard their last words…" He realised that she and the others were staring at him. "But don't worry, I don't regret living my life, as long as I can do something, then there's nothing left to forget."

"I'm sorry to hear about Shanxi." She said.

"Don't trouble yourself with that, the turians didn't know what that psycho general had planned anyway, he's no hero, but he's no saint, what happens happened, we can't change that, better to not shoot yourself in the foot and then do it again every time something goes wrong." He said as he finished his brunch.

He then noticed that they had finished eating.  
>"Hey, have you ever had sorbet?"<p>

XXXXX

The 22nd recon fleet floated carefully through the Armstrong Nebula, in the Grissom system they found that there was a number of old transmission reports from reports of a travelling group of aliens called the quarians, they were initially sceptical that these beings were the last of their race but they had their reasons, and they had seen no sign of them. The fleet admiral was a man named Train; he commanded the Advent class super cruiser Tears of Jupiter.

The 20km ship moved gracefully through the system silently making its way to the core, it scanned constantly and kept a sharp eye out. Train was a young fleet admiral was only 25 but he was the best available to command this recon fleet, it was just a search and record mission, it wasn't meant to be a serious battle of sorts. But as the ships passed through the edge of the planet Benda it came into active range of multiple signals.

The AI Jupiter alerted him.  
>"Sir, I'm picking up multiple signals, all using mass effect drives, they're over 50,000 in total."<p>

"50,000? What the hell? Did the council decide to build a massive fleet from nowhere?" He said out loud.

I'm getting a communication. It isn't council related." She replied.

"Patch it through." He said.

"This is the quarian frigate Taredan, unknown vessels you are on approach to the migrant fleet, identify yourself or we will open fire."

"This is UCAF admiral Train of the 22nd Attican Recon fleet… we're here to talk."

XXXXX

LOCATION UNKNOWN

Joseph had been watching these damned aliens stumble around the ruins too long, the had been moving corpses and recorded samples for over a week now and it was becoming more and more obvious that these beings had no idea what the hell that they were doing. He knew ONI wanted to know what these bastards were up to with the recorded samples, but there was more to this mission, the location of a certain Spectre who had pulled strings to allow this to happen.

The turians didn't know what the hell they were even moving, dammed fools were going to damn the whole universe. But as he watched his senses felt it, the sense of his brother, the turians moved aside as chrome armoured spectre stepped from his ship and looked around, the figure held in black that they were carrying… him.

"Sir, we've found it, the core of these things, it was hard to secure, we've lost over 200 men to this thing, what is it?"

"That my brother is our key to victory." He replied.

On the armour it had the decayed Spartan tag: Alpha 0372-Envision

XXXXX

(Ah the last chapter… I will update when I can, I do wish to continue, but I won't show anymore than this, also who should I pair? And have you noticed, but I said that this was a 50 year story… so don't get your hopes about the same Shepard… There's more than one Shepard. As in like 2 more or even more.)

Any suggestions?


	7. Chapter 7

CH7

XXXXX

Colours of the heart…

XXXXX

AN: (This is the last chapter I can get into the past few days, I hope you all like it, I do hope that you all have a safe week and I do hope that all will be well. I need to prepare… oh and the last previews are at the bottom, could someone please review each idea, I need to know if any will be good to be posted.)

XXXXX

UCAF Faith- Library Section

Only a day had passed since Liara and Shepard had spoken, a lot happened afterwards, the UCAF marine interrogators had to go through questioning about what had occurred in the Matano system, the inquiries ran for a few hours before they closed it. Liara revealed that there wasn't anything special about the mission, it was a research team from the council into events on the planet, the ship she had been on had just been caught in the attack. The same was said from the other survivors and nothing else.

Captain Anderson was in charge to dropping off the survivors at Arcturus to be dropped off, but in the meantime the few aliens aboard were just there to just wait, the UCAF didn't like taking civilians caught up in simple confusion. But what had happened in the Matano scared the UCAF, these Collectors had been thorough in covering their tracks, and that wasn't just it, there was something about the cybernetic weapons that had been used.

HIGH COM put out a warning to all UCAF positions to continuously report anything strange, if a system drops out of communication a fleet was ordered over to search, so far no other system had been hit besides Matano, this relaxed the UCAF HIGH COM, but that didn't mean that the war wasn't continuing. Troops over the Traverse were now just entrenching themselves for the long haul, the council was still trying to force the UCAF into a sort of truce, but so far it had resulted in nothing.

Shepard and his teams were being moved across the border of the Traverse to the Voyager cluster and a few other systems which had pirate bases, he had to move away from the Faith once he was at Arcturus. He decided to meet with Liara once more.

XXXXX

Liara was resting in her room aboard the Faith; it was a plain dull grey walled room with 2 book cases of some holo books and a few standard images of worlds.

A light knock on the door and Liara responded.  
>"Open."<p>

The door opened up to reveal the brown haired commander, he looked as he did when they met, messy hair as usual, tired face, uniform attire and a book in his hand. He said.  
>"Hey Liara, I thought I might pop by, you know just one last day together, I just wanted to give you something to remember me by and also as a memento from the UCAF." He said gesturing to the book a little nervously.<p>

She looked at the book and asked.  
>"What is it?"<p>

"The recorded story of the beginning of the human covenant war, it was a story about the Prodigal system, where we first met the covenant and when the first important events took place, it gives very vague details of what was used in the war, and even the more specific things they'd be obsolete so the captain said it was fine as a gift. You know you are interested in history, I might give you a reason why the UCAF is as it is, and you'll at least be able to understand…" He noticed he had just been talking on and on.

"And I just blabbered on about a lot of non-important things, don't worry, just read it in the description and you'll understand." He said.

He handed the book over to her, she smiled and carefully traced the outline of the cover and spine, she then asked.  
>"It seems odd to have a book in paper; it might not last very long, are you sure about this?"<p>

"Don't worry, the books not paper based, it's a holo book it's just got an original marking front cover, it's a special addition with an index to all words and etc. that was used. Don't open it here though; I think you might want to wait until I've gone." He said.

"Why?" She asked.

"It's something special from me inside, well I better get going, and I've got to pack." He said.

"Where are you going?" She asked as she stood up.

"The UCAF HIGH COM had ordered me to get to the Voyager cluster by the next week, I need to get going as soon as we dock aboard the station, that's why I brought the book, it's my own copy, thought you might like it, I did, but I never read it besides the front page, and you might notice why, but don't open it here, or it wouldn't be a surprise anymore." He said and left.

"See yah…" He waved and walked away.

She waited and watched as the door auto closed, she looked at the book and wondered what the book was that he had given it to her. She released the magnetic seal of the side, the bronze colour of the hard cover moved away and revealed the front page, it was a picture of Shepard, a young Shepard, his brothers marked out in the front cover, and his family and the other pictures of all those who he knew. And the last picture was her, when they were in the canteen. She smiled, there was a little notice.

"_To the one I have addressed this to… Liara, I know that you're going to read this and wonder why I had given you this, to be honest I don't know. But I thought it felt right, because I know that when you read this, you'll remember me, and those who I had once been with and our short time together, I want to be remembered, not for a soldier, but as a person, so I gave this to you. Because I won't be remembered by anyone else… because I won't be remembered when this ends, when the war ends, I'll be a memory. And maybe someone else will be there in my place, if that should happen, remember me and tell them about who I was. And who knows, he might remember who he had been as well. Yours truly, Daniel Shepard, UCAF Helldiver 88__th__ Independent… may you find life and its grace"_

She let the smile move away and she read the first page, the words in open and bold.  
>"For the path we took, we do not regret, for the sins we carry, it is the burden we shall bear. Do not fear for what shall happen, do not fear what comes after, keep hope in your heart, faith in your soul, and peace within yourself as you are a soldier, and as we fight, we shall be vigilant, till now to the end. Peace shall be with you…"<p>

XXXXX

Timeline- 2556-8

May-

The UCAF begins to solidify outer systems defences across all captured systems; the turians desperately attempt to break the deadlock as they try to reach captured worlds. The asari and salarian factions of the council attempt a new project of advanced biotics to be developed in order to challenge the UCAF marines, the project is taken under way.

August-

The council race project: Acclimation and Endurance, fails within less than pleasant results, the main facility is destroyed on the colony planet of Trident, council forces attempt to reform another project to counter the UCAF however due to economic overtures the whole of council space become daunted with the task of paying the billions of credits.

Mysterious interventions from the collectors within the Terminus systems increase significantly, dozens more worlds are hit by their attacks and more offers are made. The council forces send out infiltrators to learn what had been occurring within the Terminus systems.

Aria T'loak attempt to force the remaining mercenary bands to remain on Omega, however recent attacks had begun to stagnate support and morale. Mercenary guilds refuse to accept terms of the head of Omega.

December

The UCAF celebrates its second new year by sending gifts of simple design to the council on the citadel. The UNSC begins reconstruction on Reach and the main colonies; the New Covenant joins the UCAF on Callistan to begin new plans for the war in the coming year.

2557

March

The Voyager systems are fully and completely controlled, a number of resource worlds fall to the control of the UCAF and soon corporate alliances are desperate in demand from the UCAF to give them back control to these vital facilities required to feed the council space. The UCAF diverges on ideas and options prompting a UCAF Board meeting.

June

Omega is reinforced by hundreds of ships as Aria T'loak now has no option but to begin a structured organisation of government or risk a full station rebellion. The Mercenary guilds are accepted as law enforcers and Omega becomes a governmental centre point in order to avoid utter anarchy.

Turians and Salarian scientist offer the krogan clans on Tuchunka a means of cure from the genophage, many races are sceptical the krogans would even accept such an offer as to the reasons, but many clans agree to try and obtain the cure, but the offer was that the clans were to fight the UCAF and their allies on the front lines in order to access the cure. Warlord Urdnot Wrex and dozens of other clans believe that the offer was far too good to be true and even then, they were being used as tools once more.

Batarians on the main war zone begin use of nuclear arms, however they are met with stiff resistance by the council and many races as to the last disastrous event that drove the alliance spearhead in the first place. However the Batarian council ignores the Citadel council's advisement and begins the war a new within the borders.

September

UCAF forces use Nova bombs to wipe out 12 planets and destroy 3 systems as well as attack the main industrial systems of the batarians, the UCAF then demands that the Batarian Homogeny surrender or face destruction for their indiscriminate use of nuclear arms. The batarians are then quarantined on their homeworld with many of their planets being taken away.

Krogan clans become desperate, and some accept the terms of the turian hierarchy, those who accepted are marked as the weak fools who set to destroy themselves in blind stupidity of their breed rather than their honour. The 12 clans of the main opposition remain on Tuchunka and wait for their brethren to make their move.

Omega hits the highest population count since it first became active, 4 more asteroids of significant size had to be moved with hundreds of sprawling junk stations and mining operations to supply goods and resources necessary to keep up with demand.

Collector attacks dim in the aftermath of the earlier slaughter of many planets. It is unknown why they had been so aggressive.

2558

UCAF HIGH COM Initiates Operation: Cole  
>An unknown turian force had secured a number of flood samples and reports had been flooding in from many regions across the wester lines of worlds infected. The UCAF cleanse 3 planets with the aid of the covenant armada, however more reports indicated that there had been concentrations of flood coming from 3 major locations and 2 possible alternate locations of the flood that may still be in the hands of the turians.<p>

XXXXX

UCAF battle group- Semper Fi-

Daniel looked outside; his eyes scanned the event horizon of the slip-space portal as another 3 ships exited into realspace, he wondered how long it had been since he last had a proper rest from combat, but that would have been 2 years ago, or what felt like 2 days. He had been on the front line for so long it had just become a constant blur of events that resulted in the deaths of aliens or the deaths of those in his command.

He looked away from the outside view of space and turned back to his desk, he checked on his records and realised something rather funny, it said. [Happy 19th birthday commander Shepard]

He chuckled at the joke that his friend Leroy made, the young trooper being rescued from that hell hole on Matano had helped him gain the confidence in trying out as a rear line corpsman instead of colonial marine. He flipped through his record of messages and found a lot of junk and usual propaganda. He made sure to check on the news reports of the damned flood incursions though, he was being sent in with the 22nd Extermination corps.

The turians had reportedly screwed over an entire operation and had ended up releasing a whole flood contamination across a dozen systems; the UCAF purged all alien vessels and anything that could potentially carry the flood spores. They were now isolating the final planets which had the flood on them and began purging the surface of each. He had no intention of going in on the ground and so did the many other human regiments, they may have found a cure, but that only worked on human physiology and the sheer scale of aliens on each planet made things hard.

But there was one unit that was going in, the Plague Bearers division, legacy of the original plague marines, the poor bastards who had to fight the flood in the past. A whole division was being sent in with a single Spartan team, they were under orders to eliminate the flood and destroy an installation which had the recorded specimens. Their mission was going to be by far the roughest as they had to go in with Nova tactical bombs and a lot of flame throwers with shock rifles.

He just hoped that they came back out alive, they were the best and he'd hate to hear about the loss of such a veteran unit.

XXXXX

Joseph Black-06 sat upon his bunk, he cleared his mind and reasserted his cold personality, he walked off and began to suit up, the mission was fast approaching and they needed to be ready to get to the ground and deal with the flood. He reviewed over his notes, 3 new types of flood enemies to be careful about:

Flood Harbingers: Spore spitting creatures that fly and blind their targets, they shoot swarms of spores and acid in order to kill or digest their targets.  
>Flood Screamers: High pitch sonic shattering screaming flood which use sonic vibrations to pierce the eardrums of a target and paralyse them, then they move in to kill.<br>Flood Guard: Armoured variants of pure flood, humanoid in shape and design, but less bulky, they work to use close combat and do change their arms to fire high velocity acid pellets that can burn armour.  
>-The usual flood enemy types of the Warden system<br>Flood Juggernauts: Agile spearhead creatures which move fast but possess light armour, they are capable of doing significant damage to a single target though.  
>Flood Horrors: Iridescent creatures which use their acidic bodies to illuminate lights around them and cause a distortion of image, they can be hard to hit at times in low lighting.<br>Flood Acolytes: The Acolytes are tall and agile enemies, and they possess knowledge to use weapons, they are unlike simple combat forms though as they can think to avoid strikes and they are just as deadly as a marine.  
>Flood Rippers: Evolved variants of normal flood which use a maw of sharp teeth and claws, avoid them at all costs.<p>

Joseph put the data card back down and moved to his draw, he was going in to face these bastards in head to head combat, this meant that he was going to have to use 'it', he drew out the red magenta armour with scarlet pauldrons and placed shadowed chitin like scales on to his side. The fight with the flood was going to need more than just a simple wipe out with machinegun fire. He strapped on his flamers and scorchers, he brought out all sorts of heavy weapons. And of course he brings out his Magnus blade; the super-heated weapon would work well to cut apart any unwanted enemy flood troops.

Joseph walked down from his room once he had suited into his MKVI Variant [I] armour, he felt at home once more, the suit BIOS was still running when he arrived at his own personal HEV Javelin launch pod. The Javelins were meant as a sharp and agile form of landing not to mention meant for atmospheric release, he was going in at 50,000ft rather than hitting the ground, his mission was simple eliminate all flood cores and destroy enemy research facility, if survivors are located keep them safe for an extraction squad. The turians had been up to something and the UCAF needed to know what, especially if it involved the neutral flood over-mind.

XXXXX

In a short few hours the UCAF battle group dropped into the system and deployed their troops, the HEVs screamed through the atmosphere with dozens of gunships trailing behind, they were all targeting the single cluster of constructs on the planet below, they had a time limit to keep to and they needed to get in and out with ease.

Joseph in his HEV felt the pod rattle and shake, it passed through the atmosphere at high velocity before it triggered the 3 green buttons, the pod hissed and then in mid-air exploded. Joseph was thrown out of the pod and faced himself downwards like and arrow as he fell the 50,000ft to the ground. As he reached the 10,000 mark he initiated the jetpacks and began to rapidly decrease in speed, he hit the ground with a modest thud before he began his immediate scans.

His CNI began a link of the surrounding area, he could see everything, the massive complex and what was inside, he had his objective markers set out to locate the alien's command centre and labs, the marines were landing elsewhere to take on smaller complexes and facilities concentrated in the region. He was to go in solo, which in honest truth didn't faze him.

He made his way through the shrubbery and through to the outer wall of the facility, what surprised him was the fact that the base still had lights on, not to mention, his scans showed that the air wasn't contaminated. It seemed strange, the flood would have long broken out by now, but it seemed that most of the planet was still unaffected by the taint. He carefully made his way across through to the front gates, he found a control panel, he hit the auto-crack codes and brought his Nova tool to bear, the doors groaned open, and he finally saw the extent of the damage.

Some of the walls inside the complex had masses of flesh that were growing into them, the floor had clean and messy patches of green and red, he could assume that the turians had screwed up a lot worse. Bodies of the aliens were random at best; it seemed that most of the dead on the surface level of the complex had been killed very recently. He made sure to take samples of DNA alterations in case the UCAF needed to make a cure for other races, seeing as how much the UCAF didn't want to spread these bastards around.

Joseph moved through the base, there wasn't much to see above except the few empty buildings, he checked them all and found nothing except the flood excrements that had been laid over the area, and he assumed that they were still digesting their meal from earlier. He found only 2 terminals that had something of interest, one in a lobby and another in the security office of the base. He scrounged through documents and recoded data over the past week; he only got one recording about the breach in security about 2 days earlier.

Aside from the obvious details that the turians hadn't anticipated that the flood was capable of intelligent thought, the UCAF knew better than to underestimate them since they were first encountered in 2525 by the ONI during a special operation in the far eastern fringe of the Nova Stratus region. It is amazing to see how far the flood had actually evolved to. He headed into the nearest elevator shaft and began to find the maintenance shaft into the deeper recesses of the facility, the mission was still to go ahead, and he was going to have to determine the location of the core or if not, plant the Nova.

He passed through levels of different shafts until he reached the red marked zone, the hatch he arrived at was high security sealed environment, he hacked the panel and then opened the passage, as he entered he aimed his AR Carbine and scanned for any flood in reach of him. Once he ensured that the room was empty of life he entered quietly, he activated his chameleon system and phased into the base walls.

He walked through the vents until he reached the first large atrium, the room was vast enough to fit roughly a full frigate or two, but this was a storage room, it had what looked like containment cells and fresh captives. He passed a few and took a look inside, he found that each had a specific gene marker, all were flood victims and pure flood strains, but not of the highest calibre. This meant that the turians were targeting the lesser strain classes, this only raised more question, but how did they know?

He paused as he heard something, the slow shuffling sounds and squelching, he knew that sound better than anyone else. He zipped underneath a table and fired 3 rounds backwards into an iridescent flood unit, the flood horror screamed and twitched as it was struck by the HE bullets. Seconds later the horror exploded into pastes of glowing flesh and gore as the cells ignited inside its body. Joey sighed, these things were common inside bases that had been infected, he would have to gas the base with neuro-toxin in order to fully purge the flood units inside, and they didn't react well to chemical brain damage so he would have a higher probability of surviving inside this living hell hole. The only problem was that he had to plant the charge before all else.

He decided that he better continue on his primary objective, the flood was no joke, he had to fight them if need be or hide from them, he had to reach that power core in time or he would be screwed, because ONI was going to nuke the site with him inside if he didn't succeed or if he took too long to escape. Passing through the many corridors of the infested turian base he made his way to the science labs to clear out any data, his orders were to destroy the data black box of the base so that the turians couldn't retrace their steps into flood biology.

When he passed through the wings of empty rooms either filled with rotting corpses or decaying flesh or hatcheries he arrived inside the science wing of the underground facility, it was obvious that the turians hadn't been as prepared as the many hastily set up interior defences were mostly ripped open, he could see the blood stains of foolish troopers who believed that flood actually died from Mass Accelerator rounds, their rounds passed clean through the flesh of the flood, unless it was incendiary or cryo rounds he doubted that the turians stood much of a chance.

He finally had to pause as he reached the main research rooms, the rooms were empty except the tinge of lights coming from computers strewn across the room, and he could find that there was something off about the place though. He looked around until he noticed it, the motion sensors detected the presence of a living being inside one of the lockers, and he sealed the door behind him and made sure to muffle the sound as the flood would be easily attracted to the noise of gunfire.

He moved to the locker and then carefully opened it, it was no surprise that whoever was inside wasn't too happy to comply with friendliness. "KEEP AWAY!" A shrill voice screamed as an asari began firing her pistol and nicked Joseph's shield, he moved and grabbed the handgun from the asari and deftly knocked her out.

He placed the gun in his magnetic holster and checked on the alien, she was still alive, not infected; he'd have to adjust his mission parameters in order to accommodate the alien. He dialled in for plan 2, but first he had to get some information. Rushing the security console's systems he managed to access the turian data on the region in which the turians had been experimenting and the person behind the experimentations, and also how the outbreak occurred, it seemed unlikely that the containers in the storage zone had any breaks in the seals which meant that it had to have been manifested within the base itself, but that was the problem, who managed it?

He accessed the encrypted files of the turians research and found what he was looking for, 9 different bases were currently all using the same means of research, 1 on the planet with other smaller facilities and 3 other planets which had all been recorded to have been destroyed and 4 aboard an external space station which was heavily guarded and location unknown and the last being on a major hub of scientific work in the Horse Head Nebula.

The name of the individual who last accessed the any of the other facilities had made sure to delete all traces of his fingerprints and made sure to keep things nice and tidy. Joseph wasn't going to get anywhere here, he'd have to get to another one of the other facilities and access them instead. The only trace that he could find was that there was a huge funding for integrative cybernetics and neural research that had been also put through.

He closed up the computer terminal and went to work, he tended to the asari by latching on a gas mask and injecting her with the UCAF cure for the flood, her blood stream might take time to get used to it, but it was said to work for other races with the exception of the turians and the quarian races. He exited the room with the asari slung over his shoulder; he'd have to be careful to hide both of them from any stalkers.

It took about 30 minutes before he arrived at the main core complex of the base; the room was the fusion generator, a massive mass effect core with a lot of sensitive mechanisms. Joey set his Nova Tactical Fusion device into position; he made sure that it had a range sensitive sensor so that it went off when he was out of range.

It was only when he was finishing up when the asari woke up.  
>"What happened? Why is my head spinning? Am I dead?" She looked around.<p>

She stopped when she looked at the red and black armoured Spartan working on the small device on the floor. Joey replied with a simple.  
>"Good to see that you're awake."<p>

She backed away slightly and said.  
>"Oh, hi, what are you doing?"<p>

"Planting a micro tactical Nova Bomb, the whole place needs to burn." He replied.

"Wait you're doing that with us inside?" She said.

"Yes, my command wants me to blow up the base and make sure that all relevant data on your little screw up of a research doesn't survive. I'm amazed that you've lasted 3 days inside a locker." He replied.

"Well I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go, and as meant earlier, isn't that a little a bit suicidal we're technically still inside the base." She stated.

"Don't worry, it won't go off until we're either dead or out of here, so just stay close to me and you might survive." He replied hitting the activation key.

The Nova lit up the room.  
>"It's charged we better get moving…" He said as he lifted his AR to his side.<p>

"Why?" The asari asked.

"The flood knows we're here so they'll be coming after us very soon. Here's your pistol." He handed her back her side arm.

"Wait, what do you mean that they know we're here?" She said in panic.

The doors to the room suddenly and abruptly warped as a massive rent appeared a mass of growling roars and inhuman screams started the flood in. Joey moved over to an access hatch and said.  
>"If you want to live, you better follow me." He said.<p>

The asari followed behind hastily, nervous about what wanted to kill them. He asked as they crawled into the shaft.  
>"What's your name?"<p>

"Rana, I'll tell you my last name if we survive." She replied as they crawled through.

"Very well Rana, just do as I say and you'll live longer…"

XXXXX

Down through the passage ways and tunnels the 2 made their way to the nearest exit, a large shuttle pad with a single cargo lift, they had to reach the lift via a number of corridors past through the dense regions of the base. Once they began, they were swarmed by the flood troops, Rana proved capable if not somewhat new to fighting, Joey couldn't really blame her, she didn't exactly know anything about the flood and they were demoralising to most normal beings.

He fired in 3 bursts as he fired upon another horror, it exploded in acidic mess and took out other combat forms around it. Flood Acolytes and flood guard began to swarm into the corridor they were travelling, Joey barely dodged the spray of acidic chitin rounds that the guards were firing. He primed a grenade and tossed the HE into the small cluster, the harden chitin shell saved a few of them, but Joey was fast enough to unload his AR into their squad as they recovered.

He was starting to run low on ammo as they rushed through, he would have to start using his flamers and scorchers too early at the rate that the flood was pouring in on them. Thankfully they reached the main cargo lift and began their ascent to the ground level. However as they ascended they were bombarded by falling flood enemies.

Joey shoved Rana into the control booth of the lift so that she wasn't caught in the deadly crossfire that had become the lift. He had to face off against the big ones. A harbinger arrived, its face convulsing in a mass of tentacles as it began to fire off pods of acid and globules of highly toxic flood spores. Joey fired at the creature as it tried to close the distance; he changed his position constantly as it chased him. It wasn't until they reached level 12 that he got his chance to kill the massive flood flier; the flood entity flew next to an open rig that reached above the creature.

As he avoided another globule, he fired in 5 round bursts and blinded the creature, he jumped the distance and reached the rig, and he climbed and jumped onto the hard chitin hide of the flood creature. He latched a spike grenade onto its neck and then leapt off of the massive spiting winged abomination, in moments the neck blew apart and the creature came down close enough that Joey torched it with his flamers.

He had no reprieve as 4 waves of flood guards appeared, all fired at him with deadly firepower, the sheer accuracy was as good as a blind guy trying to hit the broad side of a bard at 1000 yards. The firepower sprayed over him, Joey took the momentary breaks to fire back or chuck grenades, it took him till level 8 when he had cleared off most of the flood guard.

His situation seemed only to decrease as dozens of flood rippers began to appear at the edges of the lift sides, he grumbled.  
>"You have got to be fucking kidding me."<p>

And as of course the universe obliges those who ask, a single fully armoured flood juggernaut appeared, its scything talons glimmering in the light as the lift continued its ascent. Joey could swear that the universe had something against him. He brought his flame throwers to bear on the mass of armoured chitin as it chased after him.

After a prolonged battle involving him throwing gas tanks and a number of large crates, the battle ended as the juggernaut collapsed from numerous wounds that Joey had managed to inflict upon the flood entity. The lift arrived at its location, the hangar in which the UCAF pelican team had arrived to air lift him out of the area. Rana appeared from the booth to check on him.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Fine, but we need to signal for help, the flood will be swarming that platform if we don't hurry." He said as they walked to the platform.

It was unfortunate that as soon as they reached the edge of the platform the ground begins to shake.  
>"Umm what was that?" Rana asked.<p>

Joseph couldn't reply as the platform in one corner gave way, a massive tentacle ripped through with ease and soon out poured more flood troopers and combat forms. Joseph pushed the asari away to the end of the platform as he cleared out the hostiles for the drop ships to make their pick up. Joey got through most before he saw it.

A screamer had managed to get into range; his suit would block out the ear and eye bleeding parts of the noise, but not the paralysis caused by the impact. He staggered backwards firing as he went, the screamer advanced when it saw him faltering. It reached his position quite fast, however Joseph wasn't unprepared, he lifted his arm and grabbed the screamer by the throat as it managed to get into range. He nailed it to the floor before unloading his M6 through the base of its skull.

He then made his way over to the pelican as it drifted closer to him; he jumped aboard and lifted himself over the lip of the ramp as they began to ascend. He watched as the pelican sped away from the planet, the flood screaming after them as they went. It wouldn't be long before the planet was just another memory in the flood of things to come, as the flood wasn't dead, not yet anyways…

"So, you didn't tell me your name." He said the Rana.

XXXXX

(This was finished somewhat hastily as it is roughly 3 in the morning and I am tired…)

I will say this, all stories that are in production will take time and all previews as I have said will not all be done, as in they're cut short. The stories I have yet to produce will not always follow the UCAF, and you'll just have to wait.

XXXXX

AN: Well here we go… the final chapter for now and the coming storm of things for me, I do hope you guys have a nice month as I stated before I'm really trying to get things put aside.

(NEW IDEAS)

Halo/ME: The Aurora Ascent

The UCAF had arrived in the galaxy, so what happens when there's another human faction calling itself the Human Systems Alliance? This is about having both powers of the galaxy in the same place, the UCAF/HSA facing each other with critical views and the consequences to their differing ideologies, the UCAF and UNSC now have a lot more on their plate, with pirates and fools who bow down to aliens. (Yes this follows the similar story line of this story, as in it follows Era of Contravene up until the near end.)

(Has anyone done anything similar?)

Minecraft/Fallout/MLP: Nukes, Ponies, and Diamonds

What more could you ask? You are Joseph Black-06 of the world of minecraft, you happen to have been working with your craft works gear when you activated a new portal device, you had hoped nothing would go wrong, but alas, fate is a bitch. Now you wake up to the horrors of the wastelands and face whatever might be lurking in these damp dark hell holes and shadows of this world that is Equestria. Come on a journey to explore as you have never done so before, but also meet your old friendssssss…

XXXXX

"So you think you can take me on pinkie?" The armoured savage asked.

"Sure…" Joey drew out his amulet of fire.

In less than a flash the pony was blown to pieces and the ground was scorched for hundreds of meters. Joey smiled as the pony screamed.  
>"Told you so…"<p>

XXXXX

Minecraft Effect: Endless worlds…

Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR-2 wake up to find themselves in the greatest adventure yet, the world of minecraft. An endless tale to get the lapis fragments to power the E-zero portal drivers to get them back home!

"This is Commander Shepard and this is my favourite pickaxe!"

XXXXX

Gundam MLP- Still pending

Mass Effect/Resident Evil- Pending

Star wars/Halo- still pending

And any requests that you'd like to make I'll have a vote on them, as soon as everyone agrees that it's a good idea, and you have at least a rough synopsis on the story please request!


	8. Chapter 8

CH8

XXXXX

The Break of Dusk…

XXXXX

Lt Daniel Lazoroski felt the cold ground of the base on his body, he and the marines had been pinned out in this watery pulp for over a month, the war had long since stagnated and deteriorated into single skirmishes since the UCAF broke through the turian lines and forced the council to the defence. The whole war had gone badly for turians who were now bunkered down behind their light defences praying that the UCAF didn't simply rush the tops of their trenches again and slaughter them.

Daniel had never wanted the prospect of being stuck in a war of attrition where the UCAF had to play nice with the aliens who began to whole thing. But then again, this was a unique situation, the council had been in open talks with the UCAF HIGH COM, much of it being over the council network, it was no small feat seeing as how close the UCAF was to complete media blackout, but since the council had never declared war on the UCAF aside from the fact that the Traverse was lost and that the council was to intervene there was no declaration of war that was official.

The news had been spread that the council was willing to allow the UCAF to take a section of the Traverse and the rest was to remain with the galaxy and there was to be a 150 light year demilitarised zone surrounding their relay and all POWs were to be returned after that they'd begin thinking about a proper treaty. HIGH COM had been unsure of the idea, an unstable truce was one thing, but proposing while they were still at war was another thing, the batarians had refused to surrender and only remained as aggressive as usual, the krogans had soon to join the war and the asari had barely made much of an effort aside from the mercenaries that had popped by every so often into the field.

Also with recent Covert Operations with news of the flood the UCAF had no patience for idiocy from the council which had turned a very serious blind eye to the side projects of the Turian Hierarchy which had released one of the deadliest parasitic creatures upon the whole galaxy. Daniel didn't want to go through the heavy amount of bullshit that the council was pumping out and the rest of the crap that the marines didn't want to bother themselves about.

He waited in his trench and counted his blessings, being alive and being ready to get back to the ship and pull out; Eric was in a trench not far away. Their new commander had been pretty adamant about accepting them into their ranks, he just hoped that everything went fine with the flood, for now he'd just wait and see.

XXXXX

Directive Cole- 2558

/REPORT/

Mission on the planet of the Warden systems had been completed, all records purged, all traces of flood had been eliminated, however still the significant threat of the turians and the flood remain high, locations now moved to Sectors 33-12 Point Break. Other locations include Noveria and Septimus, the UCAF battle groups: Semper Fi, Ullman, Highton and Torus will be dispatched to all locations to confirm sterilisation of all installations.

-Director Freeman  
>"Is it possible that we should be able to accept the council's word after this debacle?"<p>

-Operative Command Juno  
>"Not likely, I motioned for the Delta Initiative, we can't allow those bastards to smugly sit on their asses and think that we're weak, the bastards need to be taught a lesson."<p>

-Administrator Colon  
>"Hate to say this, but I agree with Juno, not for the heck of beating them up, but we can't allow any race to take us lightly, we're still in talks with the quarians and they state that we should take a strong posture or we'd be allowing them to push whatever they'd want later on. On that note the Quarians Migrant Fleet had opened to the prospect of joining the UCAF, however a team will soon be sent to greet them, we should welcome this chance to capitalise of the public's interest that we're doing good for all sentient beings."<p>

-Director Church  
>"I concur, as long as we have public support the Turians wouldn't dare to make any blind moves, the motion must be agreed by all though, all in favour of Welcoming the Quarians?"<p>

VOTE- VETO  
>Compilation Please Wait…<br>Completed: 95 for motion- 25 against

ONI ONE  
>"Very well looks as though we should bring out the welcome wagon, sending the Fate Solaris with Captain Duran and his team, we should send representatives of the new covenant as well… but since we're still new to this, hold for the moment on that thought. Dr Haley and her special force along with Carol should do us justice, she had provided us with a cure for their ailments, and who else should we send?"<p>

Overseer Dresden  
>"I suggest Major Jackson, his reputation with aliens outweighs that of the first contact corps."<p>

Director Church:  
>"A down to earth hard core marine? You can't be serious…"<p>

"I'm dead serious Director, who better for security aside from agent Maim."

"That was a mistake and you know it. But having Jackson is dangerous, and that's fact, the marine will not be as happy since that screw up with the turians during Maelstrom and you know that, should he be sent we'll have the quarians to add to the ever growing list of enemies we have inherited."

XXXXX

Voyager Cluster

UCAF Fate Solaris

Duran had never wanted this, and he never asked for it, the fact that he now had command of a Mythic class super cruiser over 20km long had made him feel safer if not nervous, the massive ship was just too obvious a target, but being large also meant that few would try to take you on, especially since the last major offensive had practically wiped out much of the turians fleets in the Traverse with the use of only 3 Mythic class super cruisers.

Fate Solaris was making its final approach to the fleet, this display of force was more for reassurance that nothing would go wrong should the quarians decide to join the UCAF, incentives and planets all prepared for them in a neat little package, the whole political gain was to ensure that the rest of the galaxy understood the whole concept of the UCAFs position. Duran Graves had been selected purely because of his past history with the covenant and the forerunners. Valerie Haley had only specified as an observer and as assistant, she was to help convince the quarians to consider getting to the UCAF and accepting the offer.

As the massive moving ship finally came into view of the fleet, Duran arrived at the bridge, his silver and grey hair glowed in the warm lighting, his face marred only by a handful of minor scars. He stared out to the fleet and asked.  
>"What's our eta on the fleet?"<p>

"30 seconds captain." The AI Tanya appeared and reported.

"Good, relay channels on 3-22 send our recognition codes and clear us to dock with the Rayya." He ordered.

Tanya nodded.  
>"Done…"<p>

Duran didn't want to look tardy or unprepared, he knew better than to stick it out in the far reaches of space, especially when there was still a war going on.  
>"Tanya have you detected any minor anomalies or any sensor pings?"<p>

"Nothing yet, why, suspecting something from the quarians?" She asked.

"We may be here as delegates. But the fact remains that the council doesn't like this offer we're making to the quarians, and you've heard back when we first encountered them, the council had intervened with force threatening the fleet, this time we prepared for any confrontation, however I'd like to think nothing would go wrong." He expressed concernedly.

"I'll get to you should anything go wrong sir." Tanya attempted to reassure him.

When the UCAF Fate Solaris docked with the quarian ship Rayya the main docking port was secured by the UCAF marines, the force of a dozen marines wasn't supposed to threaten the quarians but simply reassure them that nothing was wrong. Duran was supposed to go first with his new major, Jackson Mclean and his 4 man Liberator squad. Dr Valerie Haley was to come with her Spartans, 3 Alphas of the most prominent super soldiers known in UCAF history, Carl 0220, Lukas 0312, Aux 0597. There was also the UCAFs legendary Faith division, Aegis and her sisters of steel, 5 of the most well renowned androids and cyborgs the UCAF had brought into action.

With all of them in the docking bay they waited for the doors to open, a hissing noise came through as the doors secured each end, then the main hatch tunnel opened for the both sides. Duran had heard of the reports that the quarians were a race completely suited inside enviro-suits to survive due to their sterilised environment. He was not very surprised to see that a dozen armed guards and 5 non-armed personnel were there, the 5 admirals and their guards moved to meet them.

When they all gathered Duran greeted them.  
>"Greetings Admirals I am captain Duran Graves of the UCAF Fate Solaris. This is Dr Valerie Haley and her Spartans." He said gesturing to the good doctor. He then motioned to Faith, and her sisters.<br>"This is Faith, Aegis, Hope, Unity, and Ray, they are of the UCAF advanced cybernetics and independent advanced platform unit." He gestured to the cybernetic individuals.

The quarians had looked at each other, the guards twitched slightly nervously. One admiral then replied. "I am Karrel' Vinh Vas Rayya. These are admirals, Ulla Ine'da Vas Orusi, Auro Farhil Vas Cava, and Hen Goro Vas Endiri. It is interesting to meet with you." The admiral admitted.

The other admirals looked at the rest of the UCAF crew that had come. Ulla commented.  
>"We didn't expect that we'd be hosts to military confrontation, I suspect that you know that we don't allow you to carry any weapons aboard?" Ulla pointed out.<p>

Jackson replied with. "Of course, which is why my marines will disarm as soon as we get started, however I won't remove my knife, unless there's something wrong with the fact that you all have guns?" He retorted.

The tension was evident that the quarians were separated with their opinions on the UCAF, Duran hoped to find a good amount of ground to balance the dislike between the two sides. It was then that Karrel stated.  
>"I do hope you also realise that having any cybernetic entities would be in serious violation of our space? Synthetics aren't welcome, at least not anything more than a few augmentations."<p>

Faith defended herself. "That is quite a prudent method of dealing with anyone who could sneak a dozen or so tracking or listening devices admiral. I and my sisters are here as security and as representatives of the Cybernetic half of our race, and if you haven't realised we're also here to represent the interests of the UCAF, and if you cannot tolerate us, then your situation in integrating with the UCAF would be all for nought." She stated carefully yet dangerously.

The admirals contemplated their situation, the UCAF had the upper hand in almost every way, but they wanted to avoid confrontation, this and the fact that they had something to tell them. The admirals agreed that they needed to keep things passive, or at least bearable. Ulla and the others nodded. "Very well then, however there is not straying from the group, we'd like to avoid any unfortunate incidents."

The group proceeded into the ship, they didn't talk much aside from the usual questions of what the UCAF wanted to talk to them about, the group arrived at the main conference room, it was sealed tight to keep things between them and them alone. They all took their seats, Duran and Haley together facing the opposite side where the quarian admirals were. They began.

"So, what is it that the UCAF would wish to offer to us that attracted so much attention before with the council?" Ulla asked.

"UCAF HIGH COM and the UCA Supreme Council have come to an agreeable offer that would help with your race; we'd like to offer a position within the UCAF." He started.

"And what would we gain from joining your race? You've only intimidated us and alienated us further from the council and also made us the target for half of the hate mail we get from the turians." Hen Goro replied.

"That wasn't entirely our fault, the council reported on it stating that you were planning to depart from council space to join us when you were still in decision, and also after the mysterious murder of Admiral Urren I can guess that they really didn't want you to leave?" He narrowed his eyes.

"The death of the admiral wasn't anything new, his shuttle exploded due to a failure in the helium-3 injectors on his shuttle; we had no idea of how that could have happened." Ulla defended.

"Yes, a shuttle that had more than 10 years of function and prefect service record suddenly decides to blow up right after in an argument with the council about joining the UCAF and Urren being at the head of the conclave's decision to join and then a month later a new admiral of quarian heritage who had been raised in council space and on a council world decides to get elected for the position?" He eyed carefully at Ulla.

The quarian nervously looked at her hands and didn't say another word. Duran then stated.  
>"The UCAF also offers you a dozen worlds with 3 inhabitable systems should you join, the council wouldn't dare intervene in this should you agree."<p>

The quarians then looked at him with some surprise, but it seemed that Ulla regained her pessimism and said. "What good would those worlds do for us? We're a dying race without any damned means to survive anywhere else aside from Rannoch."

Haley took her turn and interjected. "Not anymore, I have a solution that would benefit your race and save you a lot of trouble of having to look for another world or trying to survive on one."

"What solution would that be Dr?" Goro asked.

"This is a solution key to genetically enhance your race with an adaptive gene strand capable of heavily immunising your systems against the environment of any world or planet; you'd survive anything bacterial, and viral." She showed them the small green emerald case tube.

"Sounds too good to be true… Not everything is for free doctor." Goro replied with suspicion.

Duran laughed a bit. "It is isn't it? Well the UCAF wants the quarians to consider the offer, we give you a new world and a new means of life, and for what nothing? We suspected that you might not consider the idea. But it's here if you want it. Another what 300 years and then what, your people can't live in space forever and we've seen what the geth can do, you won't make it any further if all you've done is wait it out." He stated calmly.

The quarian admiralty was becoming unsure of what was to come from all of this. That was until he finally explained. "The UCAF wishes that you might join, not only to work out for both sides, but also make us look slightly better in the eyes of the galactic public, unless you haven't noticed all the turian propaganda coming out of the Traverse?"

The quarians nodded. "True that is serious, the turian hierarchy has become somewhat engrossed in the idea of smearing the UCAFs image, and we have seen what they threaten others with who defect to the UCAF or try to speak with the UCAF." Ulla said.

Urren decided. "This must come to a vote, not by just us, but by the whole fleet, we shall consider your offer, but we cannot accept, there is much to discuss before we make any sudden changes, or it might frighten the fleet, we don't need panic ensuing in changing to the UCAF." He said.

"Very well, we'll give you a week, but we cannot wait any longer than that or we'd face a lot more problems later on. Especially since the turians had moved over 50 ships to the edge of the system just 3 days ago." Duran commented.

"What?" Goro exclaimed in shock.

The other admirals were stunned, the turians moving into the system? But they'd never break the pact of isolation unless the quarians threatened them. Urren now realised what had happened.  
>"The Turians believe we're going to defect with the offer?"<p>

"Everyone knows that having 2 of the largest non-council affiliated forces means certain opposition in the future and the UCAF refuse to accept the turians in human controlled space aside from neutral zones. But you must know that the turians believe that you might get tempted with the offer and cause a political shift right?"

"Because having the largest section of space the UCAF represents the greatest threat to the council… independence…" Urren grimly commented.

"So what? We must make contact with that fleet; we might still be able to salvage this situation…" Goro said in panic.

"No we can't, that fleet isn't here to negotiate, it's here to move us should we either accept or not, which means we're trapped." Ulla said.

The room fell into silence and by the end of it, Duran walked from there knowing that he had just played the most dangerous card and if the quarians accepted then it would go in any possible direction, but the fact remained. The turians couldn't care less if the quarians were part of the UCAF, they remained in the council regions even if it was under the UCAF control, and it's more than enough for a reason to eject them.

Now it was a game of waiting and weighted strength, the UCAF would wait until someone made their move…

XXXXX

UCAF battle group Orion

UCAF Octavia

When Joseph-06 was debriefed on the situation he was given the total summary of the situation as to the location of the other turian research facilities involved in the creation of the flood spores and the development of the flood variants created by the turians. The turian involved in the situation was a spectre named Saren Arterius a high ranking spectre in the eyes of the council and the hierarchy, his position in the conflict has to relate to the mystery ship in the Terminus systems.

The UCAF had issued a system wide alert to search for Saren's base of activities, should he appear once more, the UCAF forces were ordered to eliminate the spectre out of concern of the spectre being corrupt and related to the dangerous viral creatures. Joseph had to now locate the other facilities and eliminate the flood from the galaxy at all costs; the teams assembled would strike at each facility and begin a torch and burn operation to eliminate the threats.

Joseph had been assigned to hunting down one research facility in the region of the horse head nebula known as Noveria; he was going in with the asari he rescued. The scientist didn't wish to join, but was encouraged by the local enforcer who gave her the option of going back home safe and sound or in cuffs she was related to the experiments and the council wasn't going to be light on the situation once the UCAF released the information into the council network. She would be the target of every major organisation out in space for her hand in working with the highly uncontrollable virus.

Rana Thanoptis had little other choice but to earn her freedom by aiding the UCAF in ending the flood threat within galactic space, this would be her only mission and once then the UCAF would release her in discretion back to council hands, she would be monitored by the UCAF by other means, but she would be safe from any future excursions with dealing with the flood.

Joseph arrived down at the lower hangar bay where a dozen marines and shock troopers waited inside of their gunships, all had their vaccinations and were armed and ready for the attack, this elimination of the source of the flood was important to them all as all had seen the effects of the flood. The UCAF fleet was to cleanse the planet that the UCAF clear once they contain the threat.

If they could contain the threat, Joseph had specific orders to do more than just contain the threat, if the ONI intel was correct, there was more than just a few infection forms down on Noveria. Communication had been sketchy there for over a few days, and the council had stated a pirate attack had occurred, the UCAF knew better, this was no pirate attack. The first message was a containment breach notice and a whole message of screaming and images of the most horrifying things, the council had dispatched a dozen ships to guard the system as it would make the decision to nuke the planet.

But it wasn't just the nuking of the planet, the council knew of the flood, the project there had been to research development of genetic weapons to be used on the human race, the council had blinding ignored the threat that the flood carried with it though. Now that everything had fallen to pieces, the council was more than willing to take any route to get out of the shit storm they had created for themselves. The UCAF was going to make the first move though, the council could just sit on the bench, and it didn't matter anymore. The flood had to be contained no matter what.

As the UCAF fleet finally dropped out of slip-space they were greeted by such a familiar sight, the surface covered in snow, but to those who could see distinctly, there were outlines of green and black. The UCAF had visually confirmed it; the flood was on Noveria, now it was a matter of clearing it. Joseph held tight as the gunship descended from the main hangar, this was always how things went around in the galaxy, and someone didn't know what the hell they were doing.

He looked to Rana who was simply looking at her gun nervously, the other marines had seemed somewhat nervous. Many good soldiers had heard the stories, how flood used to get into their skin and devour them from the outside in, how troopers had come back to field medical centres and had to be euthanized or some going insane, the reports from the battles with the flood filled more than a quarter of the UCAF veterans, the flood was nothing to be fucking with.

And yet, why had the council done the exact opposite?

XXXXX

Colonel Daniel Shepard of the 88th helldivers had seen many things over the past months and the recent news of the flood and the events of the colony on Matano, there was enough to fill his basket, and he was going through reports to the next group of troopers who were joining his force. The 88th had been engaged on the front since the beginning, they were used to being sent into massive battles and constant hunt and kill missions, his missions had taken him into the heart of the Traverse and back, but this wasn't what he had been expecting.

7 contingents of marine scout forces had been attacked along with their fleets in the depths of the Traverse, and all that they could find was high energy traces, something had energy weapons made for long range, and it had done some damage. It wasn't like Matano, this was bigger and much stronger than what had been at Matano, HIGH COM had called it the Kraken, a massive squid like ship which had been making hit and run attacks.

His force was to engage a possible location of the machine in the Terminus Systems, the Terminus forces wouldn't like it but they wouldn't openly attack the UCAF, they knew better ever since the batarians learnt about the Nova Bombs the hard way, the UCAF had proven that it could threaten just as easily anyone if they really annoyed them. The Terminus systems were keeping a wary eye on the UCAF forces, but they were going to engage if the UCAF made any movement that even suggested attack.

Daniel had orders to take one fleet and make his way around, his first stop was to see one person that ONI knew of that he could learn more about the strange ship, Aria T'loak; she had wanted to speak to the UCAF, but without the necessary personnel bothered to go see Aria, Daniel was being sent instead. He had no problem with going to see this person, he had heard over reports that she was some kind of pirate queen who ruled a massive station called Omega, he would meet her and talk over what information she might have, if things don't work as well as it should, he and his forces would just search by ONI reports.

Daniel smiled, finally the most interesting thing had happened, he was now going to meet with an alien pirate, the most humorous part was that the whole galaxy even allowed piracy, he couldn't believe the sheer amount of hypocrisy that the council showed even though it said it followed policy, pirates weren't a problem due to the fact the UCAF killed most pirates and executed whoever might have been involved, and that was over 600 years ago, there hasn't been a change to policy and no one had been idiotic enough to try to break those rules again.

He was going to have one of the most interesting careers in his lifetime.

XXXXX

Noveria- landing zone sigma

Joseph stepped off his pelican as it landed, the land crunching against his heavily insulated armoured feet, his scanners overviewed the terrain, there were plenty of things to see, the endless chasms and valleys, and streaking plains of white, and now yellow mounds. The area surrounding his position looked more like a sand dune, but with the lack of sand, there were instead massive lumps of yellowing bio matter which had taken to the inhospitable conditions of the planet.

Joseph carefully searched for anything that might suggest more than a few mounds, but from what his scanners could tell, the area had not been immersed in flood spores, there were minor transmission spores, but nothing concrete to tell him that there was more threatening things in range. The other members of his squad disembarked and followed along to search the area in a loose hexagonal pattern.

Joseph felt the nostalgia come back, the Warden systems had taught him much, and he hadn't forgotten the others, he still wondered if the turians had taken 'him' with them, if they had, then Joseph would be facing something a lot worse than just a few spores. He took point and signalled to his squad, the team remained absolutely quiet; these UCAF rapid insertion assault teams usually knew what they were doing and never said a thing, aside from briefings and some other directives required for the mission.

Joseph checked with the team as the pelican with the warthogs arrived, the new FAV warthogs landed, the Force Application Vehicle warthogs worked as they normally did, they had all the basic hydrogen engines and ion diffusion cells, the hog had been worked over with new equipment, it no longer yielded a single M50 chain gun, it now mounted dual M50 machine guns, the ammo had also been replaced by inferno ammunition, the package came complete with fuel canisters and a number of external det packs, all required for the mission.

Rana headed to the nearest hog, she jumped into the passenger seat of the warthog behind Joseph's own, the marine who jumped into gunner said. "Hey you didn't say shotgun." He smirked.  
>"What? I don't have a shotgun." She said baffled. The driver just laughed and the gunner face palmed, Joseph felt that the asari would find the human race a very different thing from the rest of the galaxy. He kicked the engines into gear and the hog roared to life, the two warthogs drove down from the landing zone to the main Noveria complex.<p>

Joseph reported to Command.  
>"This is Black Strife, we are en route to Noveria complex, confirm command."<p>

"Confirmed Black Strife, all teams have reported successful landings across the region and some have reported flood activity in regions. All weapons are free at moment of visual contact."

"Roger command, proceeding."

The warthogs swerved over through the ice packed roads and trails to the main complex, it was apparent that the flood had yet to come to the main complex, but the fact that the roads were abandoned and strewn with empty vehicles and unmanned guard stations, then this was a very bad omen. The communications were still hampered, there was barely anything from the main complex and that was what really concerned Joseph, the flood rarely acted stealthily unless directed by one of the greater overminds, and they were the hardest to stop.

The complex came into view as the team came over the next bend, the friendly signals came from all around as the other teams arrived at the main port, the whole area was vacant except a few mining rigs and a couple of transports. There were no bodies, but the sight of something made Joseph stop the Warthog, Rana came up from behind and they both saw what had made the Spartan drop the vehicle dead.

There was a frigate sized thing on the top of the complex, it had black armour, and glowed blue in the joints, but it had eyes, red and orange, it saw the team and then they all heard it scream.  
><strong>"I AM PROVIDENCE. I AM THE AVATAR OF DISTORTION"<strong>

XXXXX

AN

I have nothing to say to any of you.


	9. Chapter 9

CH9

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Burning essence, faith, and innocence…

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This is the chapter which I do hope that can make up for the last chapter, as we will be quickly catching up with the rest of the events in the universe; we're going to see what comes next.

And here is news boys and girls, I have been attacked by a kid living in Singapore who had tried to troll me on my own reviews and guess what? I have just learned that this kid barely started one month ago and he's trying to troll me, and says that my stories are pathetic in his most illiterate form of writing and to top that off, he's worse than when I started and he's barely written anything. I wrote 20,000 words of horrible garbage on the first month alone and had the worst reviews and guess what? I learned, this kid hasn't even 1 or 2 reviews on his stories and he's judging someone who's had 2 years, wow, that's meaningless, he's going off about how he wants to curbstomp on all my works when my works aren't even of his concern seeing as they already shadow his work by years, kid, here's something you should know, you've helped me learn something. You need help, and I need motivation, and thanks to you, you just gave me a boost of motivation, I've learned so much thanks to critics and those who read and reviewed and because of them, I realise that I should be trying harder to get to my audience and I thank you for making me see that I really should be working harder, so you trolls have just given me the means to work harder, thank you little kid from Singapore who just started, I hope you troll better when you're 20.

And also I have decided to forgo all my privacy and announce this, I have 275,000+ views thanks to you all and it grows daily now by 250 views and those updates receive almost 500-1000+ hits, so by the next few months I'll be aiming to hit 300,000+ And thanks to all the 55+ people who have favourite the story and the many other who have placed me on your alerts, I love you all, and I should mention soon it's my birthday! I'll be celebrating when I manage the 250,000 mark! Have a nice holiday to all those HSC students in Australia like me, we just graduated and waiting to get to where we need to go!

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Noveria- Port Outskirts

Joseph gripped his head in a vain attempt to block out the psychic scream of the black chitin like armoured creature that was attached to the top of the port, his head felt as if there was a plasma cannon firing rounds off every second, his ear drums and eyes watered underneath his helmet. He grasped until finally something shut out the sound, he felt the earth tremble and suddenly he was airborne. He cracked his eyes open just enough to see what was going on, the winds were sheering away from the port as something had impacted near or on the port. Whatever it was, it was enough to send him and the others off of their warthogs.

Joseph hit the ground with a muffled thud as he smacked into packed snow that was along the trail, he was accompanied by heavy weight that slammed into his chest, he opened his eyes to see that Rana had also been tossed, and had landed right on his rib cage. He didn't cough but he felt that bump. The marines landed nearby as well, some didn't look too good, a private was gripping one ear which had been on his com piece, and he was bleeding from it by a trickle and was receiving care as the team medic rushed over.

Rana managed to finish holding her own ears to finally notice her position; she sat up wearily and said. "What in the name of the goddess was that?" She shouted unaware that everyone was still having hearing problems.

Joseph looked over to the port, it seemed that the fleet had decided to cut the protocol crap and just fire on the damn thing, a hole the size of an elephant was now present in the machine, but it was odd, how could something like that be taken down so easily? He didn't question it but felt that this only raised even more questions than answered, the main objective was still here, to contain and eliminate the flood, but to confront the flood overmind, and if the intel was correct, then there was just one person that they had to see.

Joseph in his military manner decided to get his team back on track.  
>"Okay, how long until everyone can hear again?" He asked.<p>

"WHAT?" Rana shouted.

Joseph sighed; this would take a bit before they'd get going again. He went on the com and called command.  
>"This is Black Strife Actual. Come in command, please respond."<p>

"Black actual, what's your situation?" The command AI asked.

"Psychic attack, 3 burst eardrums and a number of aftereffects, what's the status from other teams?" He asked.

"All other teams report similar instances, and even here, commanders on 3 ships report that a psychic attack was also focused on them, the Stalker's Prey fired on the source of the signal. We have however reason to believe that this may not be the only entity on the planet or in the system." She replied.

Joseph heard the AI alright, the whole thing just got escalated, and if there were psychics like that ship, then the flood wasn't stable or safe anymore, nor were the marines or the fleet. He asked.  
>"Do you have confirmation on the location of the source of the signal command?" He asked.<p>

"No, from what we can tell, we have no idea where the signal came from, we're consulting HIGH COM Adventist program however they will not respond for a while, we can only assume and from what we can piece together, any more of those ships will broadcast psychic disruptions to any and all in range of them, be advised that there may also be other hostiles aside from the flood now present in the complexes." She warned.

"Roger that, Black Strife Actual out." Joseph ended.

Joseph didn't need to wait long for the team to recover, they made quick injections with chemical bio-gel and Re-gen and then they were ready for the approach. The team mounted their hogs again, which had surprisingly managed to stay intact even though taking a brunt of the wind from the explosion. Aside from cold snow now in the seats the team made their way to the garage of the port, they had their gun sights on the now corpse of the frigate sized squid machine.

Upon entering the garage, the automatic doors remained shut; the other side had warning lights flaring around in alert that the port had been breached. The team had to dismount their hogs to make the trip on foot, they stepped out on to the front doors of the pressure lock to the main complex, it had been sealed shut by the emergency, but the marines had a method to getting things open.

Rana and Joseph stood back at least a dozen feet away, the marines had planted a plastic charge of compressed C4 and had a 40mm grenade launcher aimed at the door. Rana commented at the idea asking. "Is this usually how the UCAF do things? Blow them up with as much overkill as possible?"

The marine who was setting the charges replied with.  
>"Eyyup, we do it loud and proud and we make sure we do it right!"<p>

The others chuckled at the joke and stood aside when he finished. They waited and for the marines kick things into gear, the demolitions expert waved his hand in motion with the timer and then… **BOOM**

The doorway exploded in shrapnel and metal and a lot of the masonry that was once attached, the airlock was meant to hold anything up to a direct hit from a scorpion, and thanks to having the explosive capabilities of more than 3 scorpions the door looked a charred mangled Astra Turkey which had been unfortunate to be on the wrong side of the cooker and the person cooking. The marines proceeded in their usual fashion, the 2 first marines made their way inside to scout while the rest brought up the rear, Rana and Joseph were taking the middle as they entered.

The garage was much like that of any garage, metal benches and a lot of machinery and equipment, an average blokes place. But this was slightly different because the whole room was bathed in blood red light; it made it hard to tell if there was any blood because it all looked like blood. The marines kept things tight, the first two made their way on the two sides of the garage and covered it while the rest of the team followed behind in the middle and spread out until they reached the exit, the only thing that no one noticed were the strange shapes which seemed to vanish every so often from their blind sights.

When they arrived at the exit of the garage, the marines worked on hacking the door, they couldn't afford to break this one as it wasn't locked down, and it just had a security encryption that held them from breaking in. The marine who was working argued about the security of all the locks.  
>"Who the hell needs 200 useless encryptions that don't even work well? These things are as useful to security as a paper printer inside of a holo-net press publisher. And what the heck is this? A, B, C, D as a security bypass? You've got to be shitting me."<p>

The guys waited as their team mate went on about the security of the door, the team didn't pay attention to notice the strange red line mark that ran up from the back of one marine's head, and he was too busy looking over at the hacker to pay attention to the sniper lining the shot. His elbow tapped a metal wrench and dropped it to the ground, the marine reached over when the energy charge went off. The shot punched a hole in the floor next to Joseph's feet, before anyone else could react, Joseph fired off a dozen rounds from his AR carbine into garage.

The sudden gunfire was like a trigger for the rest of the team, the marines all fired at once into the garage without question only pausing to aim at something else, the things that were taking shots at them were either jumping around too fast or were already dead. By the time they finished, half of the garage had holes permeating them; the things that had attacked them were now wet white pulp that was strewn across the ground.

Joseph walked over carefully making sure his sights weren't taken off of the area of the garage. When he arrived at the corpse of the most intact remains of the thing that had attacked them he found that it was nothing like he had seen before. He studied it carefully, he reported to the team.  
>"It's a synthetic product, plasma fluids and light reflective skin; this was made for stealth, looks like bio mechanical adaptation and a cybernetic infusion, whoever made this was either really good in developing alliance grade basic bio-machines or there's something more out here." The eyes of the machine were slits and had blue lenses, it had a face that spoke volumes about what had made it, it seemed that Command was right, and there were hostiles in the port.<p>

He cut the head off of the machine and walked back, the hacker had managed to get his way through the door, as he walked up, Joseph said. "Hey catch." He tossed the head to the hacker who had just caught the head while he was trying to work with his TAC Pad, and he fumbled a bit and said.  
>"Great another head fetish loving psycho, figures Lt." He smirked.<p>

Joseph grinned, the marines had this aura of friendliness to their charm of acceptance, they moved ahead. Rana asked. "What was that?" She piqued while they stepped into the main corridors of the port. Joseph shortened his response to. "Our worst fears."

The team took another turn down another corridor; a lift was present in another corridor and a few bodies, the corpses looked like what was left of security, but unlike that of flood victims, the bodies had charred holes and wide gaping rents on the flesh and armour, this was definitely not flood. The whole thing made Joseph perplex, what had to be as powerful as Providence? The thing clearly wasn't like any known enemy, unless one would count the flood acolytes, the being managed to develop a telepathic connection that allowed some sort of developed hive mind.

Joseph turned his mind from the thought, the main lobby was just down the stair well and then they'd have to locate the main source of the flood's location and send in the coordinates to the fleet and to the Octavia to begin bombardment. Once then the mission would be complete and he'd be sent back to recover while Rana would be sent off to wherever she wanted to go while the UCAF brought out the news of the flood to the galaxy, the people had the right to know, especially since this was approved by the turian hierarchy without any explicit permission of the galactic community.

This scandalous event would definitely hammer the nail into the coffin, the turians credibility to continue the war would end and the UCAF would roll the turians far enough to force a conference with the council, once then the UCAF would declare its ultimatum and then the galaxy would realise that facing the UCAF would be the worst idea possible. The UCAF intended to deprive the council of any more ridiculous victories through their bureaucratic BS, there had been enough lies spread by the council and the UCAF would give them a hard wake up call.

Joseph stepped into the darkened lobby of the main port, the whole area was vacant except for the few corpses which had clear energy burns, but these were different, the bodies had a sickly green emanating from them, Joseph could tell that they were now in the presence of the flood. He activated his inferno ammo, he signed for the rest of the team to follow suit. After a moment of getting prepared to face the flood, they passed more corpses along the level, it seemed that most had been infected during the chaos and then killed by the unknowns.

There were a few synthetics lying around as well as the flood; it seemed that the sides had decided to clash without pausing, the immense battle that had taken place was truly messy; there was enough bodies and blood to fill half a stadium. There were bodies of fleeing civilians strewn in a mess; it seemed that they had yet to be defiled by the flood. It wouldn't be long though, once the flood make their move the whole port would become a nesting zone, seeing as it also possessed a number of ships, if any made it off world it would have flood aboard it. The fleet was going to have to torch this place as soon as possible.

As Joseph and the team made their way to the top level they heard something, skittering legs, many skittering legs, Joseph ID the movement on his scanners, they had been surrounded, but they couldn't see where the things were. One marine asked. "Where the hell are they all?"

The team was confused, it was then that a single drop of ichor fell on to Joseph's leg, he noticed the slime and then he looked up. He then said. "Up above us…"

The team looked up and was shocked to see their contacts, hundreds of flood spores hung from the ceiling with countless numbers of flood cacoons; Joseph could identify a dozen pure strains in development. This whole port was a hatchery. The marines dared not move, they were all paralysed by shock, the flood was right above them, it wasn't until they was snapped out of their shocked stupor by a voice.

"**Well it is nice to see an old face… how have you been?"** A malignant voice echoed in the depths of Joseph's mind, he could hear it, the sound of a lost friend, a good friend and a good commander. He turned to see that there was a 7'5ft person standing only a few dozen feet away at the doorway to the lifts upstairs.

The team pointed their rifles right at the armoured figure; Joseph upholstered his magnum and pointed straight at the person's head. The rifles and guns pointed at the figure lit him up brightly, from the darkness one could have sworn that the being looked something very different than what it once was, but the overminds of the flood worked very differently, this being was in clad black plated armour, it looked like heavy ebony coloured chitin, but if one looked carefully enough you could still make the details out of the faded symbols of the UCAF pressed into the suits product number.

Joseph grimly remembered what had happened before, he didn't have enough time for a flashback, he just replied sternly. "So, they did catch you. Huh, who would have thought that the legendary 'dread ripper' would have ended up in the hands of aliens, so how have you been Uri?"

The armoured being seemed to chuckle, Uri replied.  
><strong>"Joseph black-06, how nice of you to come by, I thought they'd drummed you out, then again all Spartans are needed for this fight, aren't they? So what have you been up to?"<strong>

"**You tell me Uri, last time I checked I thought that you agreed that living in peace was enough for you?"**

Rana asked.  
>"Who is this?"<p>

The corrupted entity replied.  
><strong>"I was Uri-2443, Spartan V Warrant Officer, killed in action fighting on Warden Proxy, taken alive by the flood in 2545, never heard from again. Then I became a flood general, an overmind class flood, and one strong enough to command an army. I became like this and was left alone in the Warden systems."<strong> He answered with a cold chuckle.

"He was one of the best of the UCAFs counter flood division, but he was too close to the flood to allow the UCAF anymore tolerance, the UCAF isolated him, and then about a month ago he vanished from UCAF containment, the turians captured him and I'm curious as to how much he knows." Joseph said candidly loudly that made Rana think there was more to the situation.

The corrupted Spartan shifted his cold black eyes to Joseph and said.  
><strong>"Brother, you should know, seeing as we kept to each other when we were together, missions couldn't stop us and neither could the flood, but it seemed that fate had other plans for us. So why now? Why is the flood here now, why have I appeared? Simple, there's something worse coming…"<strong>

"Something worse?" Joseph said perplexed.

"**The thing outside, you've already seen it, it is just one of a legion, more than just a legion, but you can understand, the beings that you've encountered are more than just one. They are an ancient threat even older than us, old enough to challenge the forerunners, but they lost when the forerunners harnessed the powers of their trans-light tech and defeated them. But it's been more than 100,000 years since the forerunners had perished; it's obvious that they now return because it suits them. And I have come out of dormancy since they have as well; you need all the help to end them."** He said with calm and yet cautious tone.

"But why now?" Joseph asked.

"**Why not? Civilisation has taken hold enough for them to take hold, and seeing as how the UCAF represents the single greatest threat to them, they need to take action, and the reapers aren't just going to wait around, humanity now threatens them, and we'll soon take to the galactic stage. Haven't you wondered why we're taking space from the council and trying to form some sort of presence?"** He replied.

"The UCAF needs the space to present itself as a faction of power willing to maintain an existence, if we isolate ourselves then it wouldn't change when we came back into the galaxy and everyone hates us for no reason." Joseph replied.

"**Not entirely, we could make peace offerings other ways, but there's more, the forerunner Inheritor Vincent Foresight had predicted that the reapers were coming back, he knows that they're coming back and he had been influencing the UCAF and the UNSC to take action, they're both going to establish a presence in order to maintain communications between the human race and the council purely out of spite."** He stated.

"Then what about you, what has the flood to gain from all of this?" Joseph asked.

"**Why else would we be trying to get out? We want the one thing all sentients wish for… freedom, and with freedom, our own little quiet slice of the galaxy. We won't be a bother for you, I have my own needs and desires now, sure as a Spartan I was chained, but now as an overmind I control my chains, and those bound to me. I just want one thing in the whole universe and you can have yours, but enough with the talking, I'm sure that you have more pressing matters."** He said drolly.

"Where are the survivors?" Joseph asked.

"**Upstairs, inside their last barricades, they hid there even when I stated that no harm would come to them, but it seems paranoia had taken to the administrator of the facility."** Uri replied.

"What were you suggesting about the things we just faced?" Joseph asked with a raised eyebrow.

Uri chuckled. "Ironic, the only reason that you would be able to help me with those things, they knock out control over the flood, and not to mention they annoy me, the reapers have their own way of pissing me off and I'd like you to help. If you do so, I'll help you." He replied.

"And what would the UCAF and the greater galaxy get out of helping a parasitic creature bent on absorbing as much matter as possible want with those not attached to it?" Joseph asked.

"**Easy, the ONI had reasons to believe I was here, and the turians research into the flood is also here with me and also your little reaper buddy who's responsible is also here." **Uri grinned.

"What?" Rana exclaimed.

"**The one you call Saren is here on Noveria, at Peak 15, he's brought some friends along with him and I'm pretty sure that he's planning on something at the mountain complex, he sent orders between himself and the council fleet, something about purging some of the flood in the complex in order to retrieve the black box of the research facility."** He answered.

Joseph knew that wasn't good, Saren would be able to continue research and probably go into hiding, if that happened then the UCAF wouldn't be able to track him down. Not to mention with these new threats the UCAF would be hard pressed to go chasing rogue elements, they'd be restricted to fighting the main threats. Going after Saren would help kill two birds with one stone and probably accomplish the main objective in the process, and then they'd focus on the reapers and the flood.

"Where is Peak 15?" Joseph asked.

"**How should I know? I was taken to Binary Helix Peak 10, and that's where most of the flood came from, Peak 15 was a bio weapons facility from what I could get from the computers here and the scientists had been hard pressed to hide all information. All I know is that is where the other flood comes from and where a major containment breach occurred, and also where another reaper avatar is currently waiting. But for the location, you will have to ask the employees, they're upstairs in their barricaded room waiting for me to come up."** He shrugged.

"And what is stopping us from killing you?" Joseph asked.

There was a shift in the flood above the team and audible sounds from behind them, massive flood forms appeared, shifting and ominous, the team didn't need a further idea of what might be waiting for them if they attacked Uri. **"I'd suggest putting foolish bravado away Joseph, you know that I am sufficiently protected and you know that my kind isn't easy to drop their guard."**

Joseph nodded and said. "Fine, well bite for now, but when I'm through with the turians and the reapers and Saren himself, I'll be coming for you." He said.

"**Be, my, guest…"** The corrupted Spartan said as they left.

They walked on to the lifts, they'd get upstairs and finish this as fast as possible, the flood was spreading and they had survivors to evacuate with the intel they had to recover from the turians, not to mention the mysterious reaper ally, Saren who had to be dealt with.

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Migrant Fleet- UCAF Super Cruiser Fate Solaris

Captain Duran had been waiting for the migrant fleet admiralty board to decide upon the situation, they had been hard at deciding the fleet's position with the UCAF, the council had yet to make their move and the UCAF had yet to encounter any problems. But as time passed Duran was sure that the council would be more eager to force the migrant fleet from the region, not to mention that the quarians had been contemplating the fact that they hadn't the ability to continue in space.

He could understand that the quarians hadn't had it easy, 300 years of isolation in space had done a number to their race and the choice to leave the fleet and live upon a world which the quarians could be happy to live upon, the deal was just that much more to the quarians. The UCAF was the only race willing to throw this offer to them, who else would be more willing?

Things were now just dependent upon the quarians to decide. Duran hope that quarians would make the best decision for their entire race, if anything had taught him about the quarians, it was that they were fearful about change and their pride seemed to blind their vision about the truth, the quarians couldn't live much like this in space. One way or another, they had to decide. Abandon any chance at leaving the fleet and recovering on something better than a sterile environment, or they stayed as they had on a ship where they spent most of their lives.

Duran sat upon his command chair and waited, another 20 minutes of reports from the front came through. He was in the midst of reading the 8th page when the sensors came to life. Tanya appeared her face with panic. He asked. "What's happening?"

"Multiple IFFs, not alliance frequency, confirming turian warships, 15 cruisers and 45 frigates, formation is approaching the migrant fleet."

A voice came over the com channels.  
>"Under orders from council directive, you have remained in system for over required time, the council has deemed that the migrant fleet and all its occupants to remove themselves from this region effective immediately. You have 30 minutes to comply."<p>

Duran feared that the turians would make their move sooner or later; he just wished that they had waited a little longer. He yelled out orders.  
>"Bring weapons systems to alert status and prepare all EVA frames and fighters; I want weapon systems online now!"<p>

Tanya complied and brought the ship to alert status, the whole situation with the Migrant Fleet had taken its turn, now all someone had to do was fire a shot and they had very heavy fight coming.

XXXXX

AN: I have plenty to say and present, first is the fact that I have done this is mostly portions of the main chapter, next will be with Shepard and his plans to meet with Aria and then afterwards we have the rest of the flood event and then the Migrant fleet and then we'll wrap this up with Shepard and his mission.

I need to address a few critics who have brought some attention to the fic, the fact that there are psychics does not mean over powered god likes who just wipe out everything, the psychics involved in the UCAF are a bare minority and they're usually just at the level of power probably close to that of an asari commando or a bit stronger. Psychics are also very hard to train as it takes years to get them to such levels, and there's rarely any psychic that powerful.

To address the covenant, they'll be making their appearance in the next chapter, and also I've been avoiding the casualty tolls purely because of the fact that the UCAF is OP and I do need to nerf a lot of things, which is why the reapers are so damn powerful now. It wouldn't make it fun if the reapers would be so easy now would it? And also there are more things to come than just the reapers, the collectors and the geth have yet to make their appearance, which I might add is going to be interesting.

Announcement- I have found that my material in the Me and Halo fics have stagnated completely, that said, I have determined that other areas have become apparent, I will be shifting focus from crossovers and other things. I will be keeping work on the remaining Halo/Me fics, but aside from them I will be going for other areas.

Gundam which I had yet to address

Macross Frontier, Portal, Half Life, Star Wars, Warhammer, and a few other ideas

I have 3 requests which need to get done, one for RVB and ME

I need to complete my origins story for the Halo AU idea which I had yet to complete and only just started.

So yeah, I'll be dropping all my ME/UCAF stories for now and just going elsewhere


	10. Chapter 10

CH10

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The Rendition of chaos…

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To User: StarCraft is awesome, I have blocked you from my account and have sent in an abuse warning to the admin and have filed another complaint, I have no idea why you have decided to take action against me and my work and I'd really like it if you'd just stop and leave me alone now.

Everyone else has no complaints and only those who do usually give constructive criticism not random bull about being better than me or trying to down play their harassment through some other means. I intend to warn you one last time, don't go near my fanfics if you do not like or appreciate them, stay clear from them if you don't like them and I'd like to know why you are even following them if you don't like them.

You are merely 1 of the 1000 other viewers who read my fanfics and most of the time many like the fanfics and many appreciate the time and effort I try to put into my work, I may have stumbled over time but not enough to evoke that sort of verbal assault which I do remind you that in law that is verbal abuse and with that you are attacking me via communications for an unwarranted reason. That is all I have left to say to you… Never contact me again.

**Verbal abuse** (also known as **reviling** or **bullying**) is best described as a negative defining statement told to you or about you; or by withholding any response thus defining the target as non-existent. (To those who don't understand.)

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UCAF battle group: Dirge of Catharsis

The UCAF fleet moved through slip-space at the best speed to the Terminus System capital, Omega, the sprawling hive of scum and villainy, the UCAF had been direct with the orders, the UCAF had to hunt down the rogue spectre and also the reports of the mysterious contacts. The fleet comprised mostly of frigates and a single cruiser, the mission wasn't critical enough to validate anything more than just a few ships, and also Daniel had requested the extra support.

Shepard had been unsure what to expect when the UCAF engaged the unknowns, but he didn't wish to lose any more troops, the collectors had shown him that there was something different about them, the strange weaponry they used proved more harmful than what the UCAF determined. The outposts had repeated the same stories; many had been struck by insect like creatures which used something similar to what had been used during the encounter on Matano. This seriously worried the heads of command at HIGH COM and ONI, there wasn't enough information on these beings and thus it was imperative that the UCAF track down Saren and any of his associates before things go cold, the Collectors were the next best thing to the unknowns.

It was the main reason why Shepard was now leading a hunt and kill fleet after the spectre, the Terminus Systems provided an enemy with the perfect hiding place as there would be no mainstream monitoring of space and any traces of Saren's footprints would vanish in space as no one would take not of his arrival or departure. Omega was their main lead in all of this, an asari named Aria T'loak controlled the massive space station in the Terminus Systems and it was a known fact that she had information on many things, including the spectre and the collectors.

Shepard had a fair idea of what he would be expecting when he and the fleet arrived at Omega, the UCAF wasn't welcome since the Nova bombings on the Batarian colonies and he and the marines would not be very welcome along with the krogans who had serious rage about the UCAF planning on Nova bombing Tuchunka because of the growing krogan forces along with serious arming of the race. The many Terminus powers eyed the UCAF as a hostile threat that should be openly ignored and avoided, only if confronted first should one engage, but many instilled the neutral approach to avoid getting on the wrong side of the UCAF.

Shepard remained in his room, he was flicking through some recent reports on the war, he had plenty of time to read through things, they weren't expected to arrive at Omega until the next morning and that would be when Aria brings out her fleet to greet them. The pirate queen was paranoid, but she had merit for such paranoia, being the head of one of the most important stations in all of Terminus attracted a lot of attention, especially since it was a fortress that few could engage.

Shepard flipped through the holo-slate, the UCAF had suffered 10,000 casualties, half of which were wounded and the rest which had been KIA, the results showed that the turians had suffered almost 5 times as many casualties, but had been determined to keep themselves entrenched in their pit holes and cities rather than risk an open engagement with the UCAF marines. Fighting had calmed down somewhat substantially since the beginning and now it seemed almost fruitless to continue. The UCAF had reports that the UNSC wished to open communications with the council and make their demands up front and then just cut off communications in order to recover from the war, there were debates going on about how the UCAF and the UNSC should make their demands and what their demands should be.

Compensation for Shanxi seemed the highest at this point in time, and the Attican Traverse was to become demilitarized by the turians and only council patrols would be allowed in. Everything within range of the Charon, Sigma and Theta relays would be UCAF territory and a handful of worlds would be taken by the UCAF to remain as peace keepers and security in the Attican Traverse. The idea seemed simple enough, but with this the turians were being stubborn about the territory and the ideas of accepting defeat, the UCAF honestly couldn't care about their martial honour as the UCAF had very little to lose now.

The council themselves had made it adamant to pull council forces to the last line and accept the terms, the council couldn't afford to keep up the war anyways and the krogans had been steadily decreasing into civil war with the genophage becoming partially removed. The batarians were licking their wounds and the other council races had been petitioning for the disarmament of forces in the local colonies.

Covenant forces were still engaged on some worlds, they had been helpful in clearing up a lot of problems such as the spread of the flood and advance during the war, but now they have held back as the UCAF asked for a deceleration of the war, there was enough blood spilled and the council was willing on talking. Grand Arbiter Thel had praised the covenant forces for their bravery and had also added his voice in the UCAF senate to consider allowing the covenant to also claim certain worlds in order to aid in security of the Traverse and territory. The UCAF had been unsure of how to approach the request and had considered it, it only remained up to the UCAF high com and the senate to give the final verdict and permit the covenant.

Shepard felt that the changing faces of the war now had ended, most of the conflict being centred on the destruction of Shanxi had mostly been cleared and the colonies were willing to consider the war to end or pause as the many marine detachments hadn't been in human space in over 3 years. Shepard would have liked to head home, but seeing as Shanxi had been his home he had very little to look forward to, he'd probably end up on a retreat world or reserve for the UCAF veterans and officers. Or the new colony of Mindoir which had been built during the war, it was a nice place to live, near from Nova Terra and the Exodus cluster he and many veterans could still be close enough to head to the front lines. But he doubted that he'd even need to go after the war ended.

A break from the front lines would be nice. 2 years of command over the regiment had taken their toll on him as he had come and gone through some of the worst fights, planet strikes on krogan held forts and assaults into the deepest layers of the Batarian forces, he had come through all of them with more than one loss. He had the option of staying on or being promoted and he'd have Matthew taking his position in either case, the boy had learned and grown into a fine officer, he'd be his replacement once HIGH COM decides.

The intercom activated as the captain ordered.  
>"All marines to briefing room 3, commanding officers report to stage 1, General Williams would like to address you for the mission."<p>

Shepard placed his holo-pad into his pocket and got into his grey and black helldiver issued overalls, he had the officers insignia and badges on his which separated him from his subordinates, and one stylish hawk had been added into his uniform to tell the troops who he was. The hawk of Elysium, and the damn survivor of Shanxi's ground zero, he was considered their best officer and marine.

Walking down the metallic grey and white hallways he passed through the many gates and checkpoints over the station, he autonomously saluted to those who saluted to him and he ended up down at Stage 1 when he finished his 20 minute walk, the ship was big so the distances travelled were just as long, he found the place and entered the room. The 120 officers of the regiment sat in their assigned seats with Shepard's being close to the end, right next to General Williams himself.

Once everyone took to their seats and had finished their discussions the general began. Williams was one of Shanxi's general's he had only just survived the nuclear assault by taking cover inside of a heavy masonry building which had been constructed during the early years of the war, the building was half destroyed when they found him and he was suffering mild radiation poisoning, but he was strong enough to get back on his feet and make the trip to a field hospital, they say he was lucky seeing as the entire colonial defence command was wiped out.

The general was placed in command of the battle group along with some of his own marines because of his tactical thinking and vigorous beliefs of combat, he had proven that the troops of Shanxi could and would fight for the UCAF in the front lines, whatever had been left of the Shanxi forces had been given to him and then he just kept winning battles. Since then the UCAF had heralded General Williams as the spearhead of the war, up until 3 months ago when the UCAF and council had begun to open communications, Williams was put on the side lines with the rest of the UCAF in order to reduce tensions on the front and keep the ideas of talk open.

The UCAF was soon to broker the treaty and the two sides could finally end the conflict for another time, Williams had been an opponent to the truce and had argued that the turians and the council would not abide to such things, a piece of paper was a piece of paper, the council had never given a handshake or even made a blood pact, this was not solid and Williams refused to accept it. Many others agreed that the general was right; the chances were that the council and the rest of the galaxy would break the truce and continue war when they recovered.

As they all waited the general addressed them clearly.  
>"As of 1830 of UCAF standard time, the UCAF HIGH COM and the Citadel Council had initiated formal contact and had begun a talk for peace."<p>

Shepard and the others were shocked, the talks had already begun? Williams continued.  
>"Now the information about how the talks are going is being withheld until they are completed and the UCAF releases the disclaimer, up until then all active combat is to be ceased in the next 12 hours, and the UCAF and Council forces would remain in passive condition until the talks are completed. We have not been called back, the mission is still to be continued no matter what, the ONI had been adamant that no special operations could be compromised now as it was too dangerous to ignore the threats from the unknowns. That said, we will be arriving at Omega within less than half a day and when we arrive we have our orders, gather information as instructed and continue on the search for the 'reapers'." Williams had used his finger gestures about the strange attackers.<p>

"The council has no information on the reapers aside from some random beliefs made up by conspiracy theorists and random people; they dismiss the claims like they dismissed our existence until the war took hold. The council is desperately trying to hide something else, aside from their botched flood plans and research into UCAF technologies and forerunner experiments, the council is determined to leave us in the dark about some critical information." Williams ended.

A hand went up and the pale skinned male who had the ONI insignia placed on his shoulders inquired. "What kind of information are we talking about general?" Lieutenant Ackerman asked.

Shepard had his reservations of the ONI officers, they weren't all bad, but Ackerman was one of the few Shepard liked, except for that dead passive attitude that he held, Ackerman knew more than what others did, but those were incredibly sensitive pieces information on he was allowed to carry. UCAF and ONI had been determined to keeping what knowledge that he knew to a minimum, Shepard usually heard things in passing when Ackerman did say something, but this time he wasn't going to get early tips on what might be going on.

General Williams looked at the Lt with an incredulous face. He then answered.  
>"There have been rumours that the turians and some other factions outside the council's control have decided to take an interest into our conflict, this isn't the collectors, but another force. We have little information on what they might be planning or who they might be, but they are determined to take action against humanity and worse yet, they are believed to be as powerful as us." He ended ominously.<p>

The other officers and staff looked around, murmurs were passed and speculation, but Shepard felt that he knew what was already going to happen. Shepard decided to put forward his view on the situation. "Sir, are you saying that we will be facing an enemy which we have no idea about, and has been suspected of using technology almost equal of not superior than our own? And the collectors and the rogue elements we are now tracking might be related in some fashion?"

The table seemed to have a few nods and a lot of pondering, Williams answered Shepard's question.  
>"Yes, that is what we hope for, the collectors and the rogue element known as Saren, we need to know what they do and we need to know fast, or else we might be facing a greater threat in the future if we don't, on the other hand, if there is no relation, then we can only assume that what is coming isn't related to any of this and we might be facing something completely outside of our control."<p>

Looks were exchanged that made it very clear that whatever the politicians and those at HIGH COM were doing, they had their reasons. The meeting went on with little else to discuss and that Shepard and Ackerman would have another talk about what might be happening. It was still another 9 hours before arrival at Omega.

XXXXX

6 hours later…

Shepard took a light sleep before he woke up, he needed a short rest before he suited up, it wouldn't be appropriate for an officer going out on first contact to be dreary while trying to talk. Shepard went through his routine in a summarised version of, brush teeth, comb hair, wash face, and get disinfected, and then suit up, eat breakfast, and then get into MKVII Liberator class Helldiver custom armour.

The MKVII was a unique pattern and class of helldiver exoskeleton assault armour; it was one of the first to receive the N7 mark and the first to be declared the 7th gen exo-assault class. It had a chrome black finish and a single layer of anti-beam coating, followed by 2 layers of adamantium, 1 layer of iridium, a micro weave of titanium and an ablative layer of ceramic and finally a nano-weave of bio reactive gel. The total weight of the suit was 75kgs and that was without all the attachments and external equipment required.

The armoured suit had many attachments; Shepard had a single tactical interface wrist pad, 1 dead-shot jetpack, and custom head gear- optical fusion goggles: 1000m range, infrared, night vision, sonar, motion tracker and LIDAR, there was also the shoulder mounted M51 mini-gun and multi canister grenade launcher, 4 external 15 inch serrated blades, spare ammunition packs and explosive gear. The MKVII was one of the few Helldiver suits which had received these upgrades and it was a definite improvement, as it also had internal medical systems which injected bio-gel and medi-gel into the user's bloodstream and had vacuum seal in case of breaches.

Shepard's choice of suits wasn't his, the suit was given to him by donation of the UCAFs R&D department from those who had developed the Spartan MKVI and MKVII, the helldivers always got the secondary upgrades and updates to their suits whenever the Spartans did. Shepard looked through his load outs, he had more than a few guns to pick from, but his custom AR Carbine would suit the job for today, he also loaded a M5 custom laser sight pistol, M8I HEC-S100 SMG, 12 grenades of varying types and enough thermal hot shots to take on a battalion of elites.

**CODEX**- UCAF Armaments and Weaponry

Thermal 'hot shots' rounds were introduced during 2540 when snipers began receiving mass accelerator drives in order to fire deadlier payloads at much faster rates without over burdening the sniper, Revenant SR-X9 snipers were the first released to use thermal shell of 50 calibre size and fire at speeds up to 1/3rd the speed of light, the recoil wasn't compromised thankfully by the upgrades made to the SR series. Later in 2550 many special operations forces began receiving major upgrades, snipers of all varying types received variant one mass driver upgrades and later UCAF military began development of mass produced mass accelerator carbines, it wasn't until 2555 that the UCAF began dispersion of all mass accelerator weaponry.

'Hot shots' are encased bullets which possess heat sinks curled around the outer casing which is ejected with the shell once fired, this means that the barrel is immediately cooled by the firing of the shot and the weapon does not over heat from usage. The weights of all standard thermal rounds are 20 grams and can be increased to up to 200, each rounds is comprised of titanium for normal targets, adamantium for heavily armoured targets and ionised copper to deal with shielded enemies, each variation of ammunition works to grant the user an advantage in the field when dealing with opposition, the only flaw is that not all ammunition can be carried and special ammunition is only present amongst the Psychic Operatives and Combat Engineers and rarely found on any UCAF marine. Other modified ammo types are present but many remain between troops who require them for special missions or those who have specific goals and operations that need them.

-END-

He left from his room and down to the hangar, troops milled around in the cruiser as they prepared for the coming mission, the slip space drop would be on the outer boundaries where the fleet would contact Aria and send him and a single team over. Shepard had selected the best suited for the mission, Captain Matthew, Lt Carol, and Gunnery Sgt Mikael. They were waiting in the hangar bay for him.

As he passed through the greying hallways he noticed that Ackerman had exited his room and was following him closely, the ONI agent waited until they were in a quiet area before he called out.  
>"Colonel Shepard!"<p>

Shepard turned around and watched as the Lt approached him.  
>"Sir, I need to tell you something."<p>

This was the time and place now, Shepard said.  
>"What is it?"<p>

Ackerman looked nervously around and said.  
>"HIGH COM has found where Saren is, it came through only 2 hours ago, from Noveria the operation had been to eliminate the flood contamination across the Traverse and it had led the main strike forces to Noveria, there they had discovered that there was a relation to Saren and the flood, but also something else."<p>

"What else?" Shepard inquired.

Ackerman showed him his holograph, the image displayed from it showed of something he had only seen once. Ackerman explained. "There's been sighting of this thing, the UCAF fleet had wiped the thing out and had continued the mission, HIGH COM said that they're going to have to glass it with the planet, the flood was in the port with it and they can't risk trying to retrieve the machine, but they said that it's there and with others, the strike team sent in has reported that there are more than just this one." Ackerman finished.

The black appendages and glowing eyes pierced Shepard's soul; he couldn't shake that feeling that the machines recognised him, it made him worry. If the flood had some relation to this thing and Saren wouldn't that justify that the collectors have something in all of this as well? Shepard nodded.  
>"Lieutenant, thanks for the intel…" He was about to turn away when he was stopped again.<p>

"Sir, wait there's something else you need to know." Ackerman exclaimed.

"What?"

"There are shadows everywhere don't trust your eyes."

XXXXX

Upon arriving at the hangar bay Shepard strolled down the stairs and to his assigned Aires Gunship, the massive black armoured assault transport waited for him, and so did his team. 3 armoured carapace MKVII suits loitered as he came to, Mikael greeted him with a salute.  
>"Sir!"<p>

"At ease sergeant, what's the status on the Aires?" He asked.

The shortest of the team which was Carol approached, her suit was much slimmer, hers was specifically made for stealth and infiltration and long range sniping, she was the pilot and technician of the team, but also their hacker. She answered Shepard with a breezy comment. "The Aries is ready as much as she ever will be and I do hope I can say that for you sir."

He didn't bother with her remarks, she always did that to her superiors and many ignored her after a while, which he decided to do similarly because of her attitude, she wasn't one of the lazier personnel of the squad she just had her own attitude that followed with it. Matthew was the last in the amongst the team, he was checking his neural intakes to make sure that he was ready to go berserk if things really heated up, the captain had been much like himself as usual reserved until the fight, he saluted to Shepard as he finished his modifications.

"Sir, it's good to see you again, you sure you'd require me for this mission?" He asked.

"Never go anywhere without you Matt, seriously, having a berserker is one thing any officer would need, especially where were going, Omega's said to be neutral ground, but I doubt that we'd get anything but a warm welcome once we land. It's packed with Krogans, Batarians, and a lot of other pissed of races who want to take a piece of us. Just don't start using 'it' if we get into a fight."

The captain nodded and remarked.  
>"Well I'll consider it sir, but no promises; I don't make them I just kill things." He joked.<p>

The alarms blared as the ship was making final approach through slip-space, Shepard had his neural uplink feeding him intel from the main network, he would get his orders from General Williams when they exited slip-space. The command crew prepared as they decelerated from slip-space and began to pull out.

"5 seconds till real-space transition, and… mark!" The AI announced.

Shepard felt the transition from his seat, the inertia pushed them all slightly as they exited, and he could see the stars pool outside and the many other lights of the heavens and the most interesting and surprising things, was the massive debris field that they had just flown directly into. He heard collision alarms blaring and the General yell.

"Hard to PORT!"

There was scraping metal and heavy thuds as the entire ship ran through the debris field, Shepard watched as dozens of pieces of flying husks went by. He was shocked, they weren't supposed to have exited anywhere near the asteroid field, he checked over the network as saw that through the main cameras, it wasn't just a debris field that they had flown through, it was the remains of Omega's main defence fleet.

The cameras could see that there were over 2 dozen hull fragments scattered across the distance, Omega looked as if it had been smashed by a meteor storm of asteroids and the most concerning thing was that there was a single solid shape that was protruding from the bottom of Omega, and Shepard was sure that it wasn't meant to be there.

General Williams yelled out.  
>"Alert status cancelled, bring us to combat status now and call in the rest of the fleet, we have hostiles attached to Omega and possible threat of unknowns, collectors have been confirmed."<p>

The ship changed to combat status and every marine jumped into their gunships, they were ready for plan B, taking the station by force. General Williams went over the com to Shepard.  
>"Colonel can you see this?"<p>

Shepard replied. "Yes sir, I can see them, that's definitely the collectors, but what are they doing here?"

"No idea, we're trying to get communications up but the channels are jammed with emergency signals and static, someone's trying to hide their presence, there's no sign of Aria on the network which we can assume means that she could be deceased, if so then we're going to have to clear out the collectors and do things the hard way, if she is alive I need you to find her. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir, is there anything else?"

"Marine teams will be joining you and will be aiding in the recovery of the station, if the station is compromised and Aria is dead, then we might have no choice but to use option C, and we don't want to use it unless we absolutely have to understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good luck Colonel."

Shepard heard Carol comment.  
>"Well here's to another fuck up that the galaxy decides to throw at us."<p>

Carol kicked into gear and brought the Aires out of the hangar bay, it was shortly followed by squadrons of fighters and other gunships. As they made their approach they could see the more detailed outlines of damage to the station. The collectors had been thorough in clearing out the lower levels and crippling the higher ones, it seemed that the damage might be superficial but a number of docking ports and landing zones had been trashed by the devastating assault from the collector vessel. This revealed a lot about the collectors already, they were a threat and not only to the race of the galaxy, but also to humanity.

It was then that they made their own little threat, more than 4 dozen contacts appeared on the LIDAR screens, Carol yelled.  
>"Contact, evasive patterns now!"<p>

The gunship tilted away as particle beams seared by, Shepard looked out from one of the gunports on the sides to see what was firing at them. A single red eyes with wings and what seemed like a focus cannon in the middle was firing particle charged beams at the squadron and the gunship, the fighter screen broke away to engage while the gunships continued on a bee line to the space station.

Shepard watched as they made their approach, but as they reached the main containment field they encountered more than just a few little problems. Carol yelled.  
>"Multiple contacts, smaller but fast!"<p>

She gunship rocked as beams of blue energy shot by, the gunship lurched as one struck home. The shields took a slight hit and that was enough for Carol to yell. "Someone man the guns, the Aires can't target anything that's right behind it."

Shepard jogged to the rear M50 turret, the heavy Vulcan assault cannon activated at his touch, Matthew manned his own and Mikael went to man the lower guided missile system. The gunship was now in the lower industrial sector of the sprawling station, Carol was passing through some narrow corners to lose some of the contacts, but others continued on their pursuit of the gunship. Shepard waited as they finally cleared the industrial sprawl and into the open.

It was then that 4 contacts appeared, he could see them, they had multiple lenses and shaped as if like crabs, but they were larger, one charged up its beams and fired in strafing shots at the gunship, Carol lurched the gunship down a corkscrew manoeuvre to avoid another direct hit. Once they came back into focus Shepard yelled. "Let em have it!"

The M50 Vulcan assault cannon began to spray out deadly high explosive bullets at mass accelerated speeds; the bullets peppered into the closest hostile and churned it within moments. As it exploded the others charged up and one glowed ominously as it chased after them, it had glowing eyes and seemed to stare after Shepard with a determined glare. He brought the cannon down at the glowing target but was surprised as it withstood the barrage of shells, it took another burst before it exploded and then it came.

"**WE ARE LEGION, YOU ARE IMPERFECT SHEPARD!"**

He paused until Carol yelled. "More contacts inbound, Colonel, keep firing!"

He snapped to and opened up once more, the hostiles scattered as they climbed up the levels of Omega to the lower industrial zones of the station. There they were greeted by a plethora of objects. There seemed to be active resistance as the gunship narrowly avoided a dozen AA blasts from surface turrets which were still active, the residents of Omega seemed determined to keep their station and their lives.

But as luck would have it for Shepard reaching the residential sector would be as far as they would go, the gunship was attacked once more and this time by another glowing creature, it latched itself onto the top of the gunship and began to hack into the shields, the other dismounted their guns and joined Shepard as the machine began eating into the hull.

He could hear the voice though. **"WE HAVE COME FOR YOU SHEPARD!"**

The hull buckled as the machine ripped inwards, he could see the glowing eyes of it as it screamed, Shepard and the other helldivers began to fire, their rounds punctured into the shields and began to burn holes into the machine, but it was resilient, it took the punishment with ease and continued to hack away.

Mikael fired his carbine on full auto while Matthew hosed out shotgun rounds with his dual ASR-12s, it was then that Carol appeared and brought up her own special weapon, her modified Revenant SR-XV15 and fired a single 100 gram ionised core into the head of the machine, the shell was blasted through at 80% the speed of light and left an impression which they could all see, and then it exploded.

He heard the voice one last time.  
><strong>"Child of the father, father of the son! Your sins shall carry on young one!"<strong>

The team was knocked back was the collectors assault machine blew to pieces and knocked them to the floor, when it exploded it also took out half of the rear and caused enough damage to send the gunship into an uncontrollable spin. Shepard could hear the alarms screaming as the gunship flew through the interior of Omega and sharply drop to the lower levels.

"Brace!" He yelled.

The gunship collided with the walls and scrapped the outcroppings of buildings and eventually slammed sideways into the heavy metals of the floor, he and the others were thrown around until they came to a dead stop. Shepard lost consciousness after that.

XXXXX

AN: When the wind blows

Well I have to apologise for the top AN about the recent problems I have been receiving from a certain person, I don't understand why he has decided to attack me probably out of some ridiculous attitude or he's being bullied himself or bullying and getting away with it, but not from me. And the other sad fact is that he says I live with my grandmother and that I should get my own life and here's the bad news.

My grandmother has a terminal disease and is dying, something to do with liver or kidney failure and she's been admitted to a hospital in Korea, that's where she lives, and I will be taking time off to prepare for the coming months as I might be getting sent to see her before her time and send my condolences to the rest of my family in Korea, I won't be coming around anymore for a while.

I have been busy with also trying to find work and searching for universities and other courses for my continued education and learning and I might not be around as much now. I find it arguably the most stressful time I'm having as I have to deal with many problems at once, so I have no idea how long I'll be around for. I can only say that I intend to continue work on this as long as possible before I need to go, and also I wanted to focus on this story without over burdening myself with other fics, so they'll have to wait a bit longer. Better that than half assed work like before, which I intend to correct once I get back to it.

So for now, I just have nothing else to say… have a nice holiday

PS-

As you can tell the reapers and the collectors have been upgraded a bit, they'll continue to get harder to defeat as the story goes and you'll know why, and there's a lot more content in this story than you should know and a lot more things I have decided to include as well as the shadow broker. Hope you guys enjoyed the change of pace.


	11. Chapter 11

CH11

XXXXX

Too much, too late…

XXXXX

Noveria- Main port- level 1

When the team arrived at the first level to the main cafeteria to the port's mass of exuberant and 'bountiful' corporations they were talking outside in the lift. Rana had kept her peace but after that encounter with Uri the team was clearly in deeper than what had been mentioned in the briefing, Rana asked.

"What in the name of the goddess was that thing we just saw?" She asked to Joseph.

The Spartan was a little concerned that she might lose her cool after that encounter with the overmind of the flood, it wasn't the first time he had this kind of situation occur, plenty of people were frightened half to shits by the sight of one of the flood overminds, and the flood was nothing pretty that people liked to talk about. Joseph decided to give her the summarised version.

"We've had a talk with one of our previous Spartans, Uri was one of those who were part of the teams assigned to the Warden system during the war, and he had some problems when he was there." Joseph stated.

"No kidding, so then, how does he know about you?" Rana asked.

The marines looked around nervously, they were all briefed on the Spartan's situation and also about the operations which Joseph was involved with, they knew not to speak about what had happened. Joseph decided that it was better to tell Rana now than hold the truth back any further, he didn't need her second guessing their objectives when they were in the midst of one of the most dangerous beings that the galaxy could possibly throw at them.

"Rana, Uri and I were brothers, not biological, but we were surrogated into a single family, surely you know about the Spartan program?"

"Yeah, that was in the open end information, I still can't believe that the UCAF even allows open recruitment from worlds. I know you're part of the Spartan program, but what has this to do with the flood?" She asked.

Joseph hesitated, there was a lot that he didn't want to divulge, and this was one of the few things. "The UCAF during the war assigned special Spartan units into the Warden system when we first found the flood; it was to initially keep the flood away from spreading and contain them as well as research a means to fight the flood. During the war when the flood was still a minor issue the UCAF researched into countering the infection, during those vaccinations, 16 Spartan V units were brought into a project called Chimera. It was to expose them to minor infections, we had a number of resistant systems to hold the flood off from infecting us and it was supposed to make sure that we could counter the flood should the need arise."

"And let me guess nothing went wrong and everyone came out alive?" She said sarcastically.

"The flood got loose during one of the experiments and we had to abandon the research centre, 4 units became openly uncontrollable and were supposed to be disposed but they managed to break through all security measures, and 2 more lost control from some kind of telepathic communications with the flood. The rest of us remained dormant and in control of our minds and our bodies, Uri was one of them."

"But you're saying that you are infected?" She said.

"Yes."

"But you're nothing like Uri, how's that even possible, the research at Warden for us showed there was no immunity to the flood, well until you vaccinated me when we exited the base, but still how did you manage to remain human when you were infected?" She said in confusion.

"The infection I was given was malignant, it wasn't meant to override my sense of humanity and the effects are there, you just can't see them as much. Haven't you ever wondered why I never seem to attract as much attention when I was at Warden? The flood recognise my sense as a neutral entity, it's only when I actually begin to throw myself into their plans that disrupt their nature that they consider me a danger, which they proceed to eliminating me." He explained.

"I don't get it, why would the UCAF do this to you, wasn't there any other way to counter the flood?" She said.

"Well that was it, the UCAF and ONI discovered that there was no actual means to learn more about the flood than actually having those involved infected. The chimera program which was involved with the flood was where I and the other Spartans were directly involved with interacting; we had to take the risk in order to learn more. And I have no regrets." He stated clearly.

"But your brother seems to have his reservations." She countered.

"Uri was involved but he was considered unable to continue, his situation deteriorated until he was consumed by the flood and eventually he went rogue, the UCAF had him tossed into the Warden system by himself and other flood failures, better that than having the Spartans try to clear up the mess." He expressed.

"What do you mean by that?" Rana enquired.

"The Spartans involved like myself were no match for the Spartans infected, the reason why we didn't engage would be because of me and also because Uri isn't like normal flood entities, he's one of the best, a morph overmind is one of the few entities that the UCAF try to avoid at all costs. They are deadlier than even Spartans because of their ability to adapt to damage and regenerate, and he can turn his armour into indestructible plating which is neigh invulnerable to gauss rounds, it would take a direct hit from a mass driver to penetrate the plating of his chitin flesh." Joseph explained.

"So, taking on Uri would be suicide for you and the team?"

"Yes, which is why I won't engage him, the mission comes first and if Uri knows something. It's good to follow up on it, even as a flood Uri doesn't break his vows, his sworn oath in joining the UCAF was to serve humanity and obey his duty till his death, at this point even as a walking piece of mutations he's still loyal, all who follow the code are loyal." He replied.

"Fine, if he's still loyal, what do you think his objective is in all of this, surely helping us would mean that he's got his own agenda doesn't it?" She said.

"Uri has his own plans for the reapers, but whatever they might be we can't intervene in now, we need to catch up with Saren and his little friends at Peak 15, if Uri is right, then our priorities are just cleansing the world and saving whoevers left and then going after Saren. In that sense it seems pretty clear, but with Uri in the mix, I have my doubts." Joseph pondered.

"Why?" Rana asked.

"Uri is one of the few who ever knew anything more than the other members of Chimera, and thus he knows a lot more than most intelligence officers in ONI. But what he knows only he and the flood will ever know. He won't divulge anything else."

The doors to the lift opened and they were now on the level to the survivors of the port, Joseph decided to wrap up the discussion now.  
>"Whatever Uri plans on doing, it's going to involve us somehow, and if not, he'll vanish into the dark like before. Either way, we have a job to do, and the reapers are rearing their heads at us right now, so focus on the mission, I'll tell you anything else I might know when we get the job done." He said loading his rifle.<p>

Rana was not entirely convinced that Joseph was telling her the whole truth, but it would have to suffice, he was right considering that they still had their mission to accomplish, the survivors had the information that they needed to locate Peak 15 and to the activities undertaken by Saren. The team exited the lift and wandered closely in their group.

The corridor that they had exited into had a massive pile of metal and objects stacked high and some of which was welded together by bolts and bits. A marine commented.  
>"Well isn't this just great, so who's going to be negotiating with the panicking civilians?"<p>

Joseph waved to him and said.  
>"I'll deal with the civvies; just keep an eye out for trouble."<p>

The marines nodded and Joseph carefully approached the makeshift barricade, he scanned the metal and junk carefully and analysed what it was made from. His scanners revealed multiple heat signatures and movement with some activity; he arrived close enough to touch the wall of the barricade when a voice shouted from behind the metal wall.

"Stop right there, don't move any further, this is corporate ground!" A voice shouted.

"And why wouldn't I be allowed to move further? You have something to challenge me with? All I can hear is a terrified guard who probably thinks that this is a fruitless gesture, as this wall of garbage isn't going hold me from punching through it and pulling you through it so I can pummel your sorry ass." Joseph stated passively.

The person on the other side made a small but audible noise that made even Rana smile, the guard appeared, one turian security member, he looked at them and announced.  
>"They're human, and one asari, open the doors." He called.<p>

The wall of trash was pulled away by a couple of asari members who then held it up with their biotic powers for the team to pass through, as Joseph and the team cleared the trash wall the asari biotics dropped and the so did the wall. The people inside the lobby were all looking a little worse for wear but they were alive at least, a crowd had formed, probably expecting to meet some rescue not Joseph and his team of marines.

There was a bustle as an armour clad asari appeared, she and her security force of a dozen or so guards came to meet the team. Joseph had respect for asari commandoes and their race in total, being the mono-gender race which has had the longest amount of time in the greater galaxy they also proved formidable when challenged. He knew of their abilities, command had been pretty inclusive for every race that was involved in the war so all marines had knowledge of what to face in the field.

The asari security head greeted them.  
>"Good to finally see something that doesn't resemble the backside of a krogan, security Chief Tara Valesi, welcome to port Han Shan, or what remains of it." She mumbled.<p>

The guns of the security snapped to, the dozen guards now aimed at him and his squad, Joseph made no attempt to draw his gun, the squad already had and Rana was nervously staying in the back observing carefully as to how the situation was unfolding. Chief Tara asked clearly.  
>"So what brings 5 armed humans to our humble pit of a situation?"<p>

Joseph smiled under his helmet and answered.  
>"Simple, we were told to come here by our superiors."<p>

"And why might that be?" She eyed him. Joseph had a feeling that the asari chief had no interests in letting them through for any reason and also she seemed undaunted in facing a being roughly 1'5 feet taller than herself, Joseph answered the unwavering security chief.

"The UCAF has reported in the month that there has been flood activity in the region, not to mention that one of the corporations was working for a spectre we have reason to believe is behind this incident." He disclosed.

Tara was surprised for sure, and she had her suspicions, the parasite being released onto the world and all the things afterwards now made sense.  
>"Let me guess, you came here to look for traces of where the things are coming from and you need access to the database?" She asked.<p>

"Yes, that's about right." He answered nonchalantly.

"Well you're out of luck, the admin has locked himself inside his room, and he's sealed the door to Binary Helix, he's the only one who knows about the break out and the only one who has the override for the doors." She explained.

She waved the security to lower their weapons. She then said.  
>"I know this sounds unusual, but seeing that you have an asari on your team…' she eyed Rana '…maybe you could help us out?" She suggested.<p>

"What do you need my team for?" He asked.

The asari brought out her Omni tool and produced a map and some written instructions, but she highlighted the map and brought it into focus.  
>"Well, we need to get back the office and get control of administration so we can begin evacuation to the extraction fleet which for some damn reason had been ordered not to approach or rescue us, so I'd actually be asking more than just this favour."<p>

"You mean, you need to evacuate and because of the council's definite policy on denying the flood to escape or live protocol?" He said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, that one, we can't leave or risk being killed so I would like to ask for you to call in asylum for most of the civilians here, it'd be better living the rest of the war out in a holding camp than being killed by our own fleet."

"Anything else?" He asked patiently.

"Yes, the main doors to the lifts have been frozen shut and emergency power is inactive as well, as the good admin sealed the emergency override for the roof, we can't leave. So it would be nice if one of your marines 'preferably' with engineering in mechanics would be able to repair the lift while you deal with the admin?" She replied.

"Well that sounds like a fair deal, I'll have one member remain to fix the lift, I'll contact the UCAF fleet to prepare extraction and quarantine flights. If that's all, I think you just need to direct me to the admin's office." He said.

Tara pointed to the limestone steps which lead upwards to the next level and then to the mass of glass domes where the sign 'Administration' was held above some lights. Joseph had no need to have a waypoint on his HUD to tell him to go there. However he and the team needed to sort things out, they passed through the crowd and headed to a corner of the lobby, the people seemed to head off and continue talking about the whole thing, being rescued by the UCAF was the last thing that anyone expected to happen. Tara waited at the lifts for the marine that Joseph would select.

As they arrived one marine said. "So it comes down to this…" Rana was confused until the group suddenly shouted. "Not me." The others soon followed with the last marine answering just a tad too slow. "Damn it." The marine said as Joseph had him marked as the volunteer, his ID was Jason Taylor.

The marine looked down trodden, probably because he had failed the 4th time at being 'it' and thus he had a grown annoyance with his failure to keep his distance from the menial tasks at hand every time something happened during a mission. Joseph told him what to do.  
>"Okay, so here are the instructions and here's the layout of the lifts, just don't cross the power conduits or you'll knock out the lighting on this level." He finished and sent the unhappy marine off to go fix the lift.<p>

Rana was absolutely perturbed by the scene.  
>"Does this always happen in the UCAF?"<p>

Joseph replied.  
>"Only in the marines."<p>

The team waited as Joseph called in from his com to the fleet in orbit, he needed to load the location of the roof to the pelican flight and ask for a status update, he knew that they'd probably have some idea as to the situation above and below. He hit him com and waited for a response. "Command, come in, command."

He repeated until a few moments later when the AI of the Octavia replied.  
>"This is Octavia actual, what is your situation?" The AI asked distractedly. He could hear the sounds of alarms and explosions going on up in orbit; he wondered what the hell was going on? "Octavia, I have need for extraction of survivors, I count 59 heads. What is the status on pelican flights?"<p>

"Not good, we have a dozen incoming enemy ships, and you know that thing we took out from orbit?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"It had friends." Another explosion frazzled the communication, but it sounded like a hard fight.

The AI still managed to pull in a few words.  
>"The UCAF fleet has engaged 2 dozen hostiles, another dozen have engaged the council fleet on the other side and it seems we have inbound landing parties, I would advise not trying to engage, there are more of them than the sensors can keep up with. Pelican flights are inbound in 3 hours, we don't have any more time than that, and these hostiles have more drones than the bloody flood have tentacles." She commented while firing the MAC at the nearest enemy squid.<p>

Joseph acknowledged and closed the com channel; he doubted that he'd be receiving any further communication from the Octavia for a while. He decided it was now to address his squad in quiet.  
>"Look I have good news and bad news, the good news is we have a pelican flight on the way here and the civvies can get going. But then we have a lot of hostiles on their way as well. I would suggest we haul ass to Peak 15, the hostiles seem to be rather determined to stop us and I don't want any further delays."<p>

They nodded. "Good, now let's move."

The team filed up the stairs to the landing above; there they were greeted by a salarian clerk.  
>"Sorry, but the admin is only accessed by those who have clearance."<p>

Joseph had little patience for this; the fleet had already given him his deadline he wasn't going to argue with some idiot for trying to follow the orders of a bigger idiot who probably assisted in the situation's deterioration. He decided to take this with the best possible speed. He grabbed the scruff of the neck of the salarian who suddenly looked terrified staring into the eyes of an armoured monster that could easily look like it could crush him without breaking a sweat.

"Look here, you want my clearance, how about my fist?" He brought his armoured knuckles to the eye level of the salarian who in turn became a few shades lighter than his normal red complexion.

"You can go through." The alien whimpered.

Joseph dropped the salarian and walked by, the alien was terrified enough he decided to walk away mumbling about another career option once he left. The team entered through the door and to the office complex of empty cubicles, it didn't take them that long to find their way to the head's office. A pair of massive white stone doors stood in their way, each door had an intricate alien design of carvings, probably something with cultural meaning. However the team had one problem, the doors were in their way, and beyond the door was the database on what they needed to know and control to the port, this door was an obstacle that they had to remove.

One marine asked. "Okay, 10ft door and about 9 inches of iridium, titanium, and ceramic plating, so what do we do?" The marine kicked the door with his foot absently, he waited for the Spartan to come up with a solution, however even Spartans had their limitations.

"Well anyone got 50 pounds of HE Ion shells? This door is energised, not to mention probably has enough locks in place to hold back a fucking juggernaut." The explosives expert examined the door.

They were at a standstill, the door was harder than it looked, the team hadn't packed anything that could break the door and Spartan V units didn't carry heavy weapons unless it required them to, but Joseph had no idea that they'd run into anything like this. He analysed the door and thought about the best approach, the door controls were manually operated and thus locked on the other side, there was also the fact that the wall was too thick for even the combined explosives to tear into it.

"How do we do this…?" The last marine commented.

Rana tried to think of a possible answer and she concluded. "You're going to need a very big gun."

"No kidding…" He replied drolly.

They needed a means to get through the door, and they needed a solution fast. It was then that the asari security chief arrived; she looked at the door and asked.  
>"So, no luck on Aledoli's impervious defence?"<p>

He threw a glance at the chief and replied.  
>"No luck at all, we don't have the explosive capabilities of a gauss tank or a fusion lance with us, there's no way to cut through and our gear just won't cut it in time, so unless you have a small fusion tactical bomb lying around there's no way to rip through the doorway."<p>

Tara stood there for a moment and then said thoughtfully.  
>"You know, the UCAF may use some advanced weapons that could level our own technology, but that doesn't mean we haven't made our own search for improvement."<p>

"What, you have fusion cannons capable of ripping through 1 meter of dread chitin carapace, or a scarab shot which is capable of blowing out a UCAF gunship with a single shot?" He said with a raised brow.

Tara scratched her head sheepishly and then said. "How about one of those covenant pulse launchers? The council had some left from the field and they brought remaining guns and weapons that they could recover for reverse engineering." She offered.

The covenant pulse launchers were an old weapon, still used to the day it was considered rather obsolete due to the iron sights and lack of advanced technology and development put into them, but they were commonly used for the grunts so that they could take on heavy armoured vehicles. The pulse launchers fired a single heavy burst of plasma which accelerates and then fuses to a target; it doesn't track but packs a significant punch. The guns themselves were as good as hefting a log onto your shoulder and trying to keep it balanced, the weapons were heavy and slow at reloading. It wasn't much, but better than trying to cut through with plastic and liquid explosives meant for flood.

He took her offer. "Okay, where do we find the pulse launchers?" He asked.

"They're down by the Dantius Inc and Synthetic Insights, a manager from Synthetic Insights can help you pull the weapons from the storage level. You'll find him down around the front of one of the cafes; he's a turian with a grey and blue suit and has a few marking on his face."

Joseph decided to leave the explosives expert with the door, the marine would continue to tinker with the door until he found his way through or blew himself and half the whole port to hell. The team went back out from the admin and headed over to the café suites which were occupied by all those who were still waiting around hopefully for some rescue. It was a bit busy but they found their man, or as loosely the term fit for the turian manager. He sat by himself at a desk in front of a shop called Starbucks, which did raise a few questions in the mind of the Spartan, but decided not to ask.

The turian was drinking his beverage while sitting by himself; he took notice of the Spartan and his team as they came into view and said. "Ah, so our would be heroes, good to see someone is still gets things done around here, unlike those damn fools who follow the orders of that moron Aledoli, damn fools are keeping me from getting my work done."

He then noticed that the Spartan and the team had no idea what he was talking about.  
>"Sorry about that rant, I've been under some pressure." He recuperated.<p>

"We were told that you had the clearance to get into the storage lockers to Synthetic Insights. You know anything about captured covenant pulse launchers?" Joseph asked.

"Oh those oversized bulky paperweights? Why by the damned spirits would anyone want to carry those things? They're as light as my damn car when it's stripped down, and that's still pretty heavy. What do intend to do, try and break someone's back over the course of a week?" He asked taking a sip from his drink.

"No we're going to blow a part Aledoli's front door and cold start the doors to the roof to evacuate the whole port." He Joseph replied.

The turian did a spit take at the comment and looked at them with utter shock.  
>"Well that surely ambitious, but I don't think I can help you now." He said with some dismay.<p>

"Why?" Joseph inquired.

"The security teams hired by Aledoli were those who work specifically for him, they had orders to keep me from the office, it was something to do with my involvement with the Noveria corporate council and he's been trying to stop me from getting that benchmark. He's frozen all my assets and called an inquiry into my affairs, I can't help you because his goons are tearing through my officer and through the complex… unless you can help." He explained.

Joseph felt as though he jumped into one problem he was getting thrown into a dozen others.  
>"What kind of help are you talking about?"<p>

"Look if you could clear out the goons from my office and keep them from accessing my computer and if you could recover the corporate databanks and files on my activities I'll let you access the storage facility in the complex, after that we go our own ways." He offered.

It seemed reasonable enough and from the things that Joseph could feel, Aledoli was probably corrupt in some fashion and whatever's going on he'll only be helping take the administrator down. He took a look at the others and asked if they thought the same.  
>"We're going in it if you are sir."<p>

Joseph decided to accept the offer.  
>"Very well, I'll take you up on the offer, we recover the info on your activities and you give us access."<p>

"Deal." The turian concluded.

The map on Joseph's TAC pad updated with the next set of objectives, his HUD displayed all listed objectives that had been spoken about, Joseph used his CNI to record all the verbal conversations and then sort out the objectives or tasks from the discussions, he only used it in the field. He checked on his auto-map and took the team through the cafeteria to the other end of the port. It was there that the more popular corporations had their offices built, Gemini Industries and a the studious Sonax Applications, the Synthetic Insights office was just to the far left of the large complexes and inbuilt offices. The office was like that of the others only being different was the white chrome walls of metal and the hired guards that were just standing around at the front.

Joseph checked his guns before gesturing the team to follow his lead. Rana asked.  
>"What do we do about getting in?"<p>

"Simple… Either that they don't comply and we shoot them or they do and they leave, we can't be saving every life we come across and I don't think we could spare the time at the deadline in which we have to clear this place before the reapers come knocking." He replied.

The asari wasn't so sure but admitted time was short, they moved ahead, 4 guards waited at the front doors and were busy discussing amongst themselves when they arrived. The 4 guards moved to halt them.  
>"Hold it, administrator Aledoli had ordered that none is allowed the premises, turn back."<p>

The guard clearly looked intimidated as Joseph gave no immediate response.  
>"You know, it's a bad idea to be standing here while I and my team need to get inside there, you might do yourselves a favour by leaving while you still can."<p>

"Is that a threat?" The guard said.

"No that's a fact…" Joseph waited as the guard made his decision.

The pregnant pause was followed by a number of nervous looks between the guards, they had heard the stories of the Spartans and the helldivers, the super soldiers who could wreck hell upon all those unfortunate enough to get in their way, and if they were standing there now, it wouldn't take much before they were all but corpses. The guards weighed their options, but fear gripped into all living beings.

One guard just exclaimed.  
>"I'm getting out of here."<p>

The others broke and ran and the last guard who was facing Joseph suddenly felt his bowls empty. "Um, well, I'll be going…"

The last guard broke and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the marine commented.  
>"Wow that's as fast as when Jackal heard about those ponies on the Hub Network on Saturday's."<p>

Joseph ignored the comment and continued through the front door, he pulled out his AR carbine and added a silencer to the barrel, he checked his armour and activated his camouflage plating, the field would distort the image of his figure and blend it as close to the environment close to him, this wouldn't work at close range, but from a certain distance not many people would notice the distortion caused by the plating.

Joseph would take point while the others covered his back, the marines would make sure to keep their eyes on the corners while Rana covered them with her biotics should the need arise. Joseph entered the lobby where he found that the guards were only present on the floors above. He moved silently and quickly. He reached the first steps and hurried up, his sensors could detect that there was movement around the corner with others on the other side of the wall where he would arrive at.

He stepped onto the landing and listened carefully, the team held back as he went ahead. 2 guards were talking around the corner; his translator was actively translating the discussion about the plans to abandon the port soon. The two never noticed the shimmer from the corner as Joseph took note of their position, he made sure that the guards around didn't pass by. As soon as the guards turned away Joseph took his chance.

The guards were faced away when Joseph grabbed the two and drove two blades between their necks; they dropped dead without even managing to splutter as Joseph grabbed the bodies and dragged them to a cubicle not far away. '2 guards down another 7 more to go.' He thought. The guards on the other side of the stairwell were unwitting to the danger present; Joseph made his way from their blind spot and drew out a compression pistol, the M5CI was his modified variant which was useful for these kinds of missions.

He picked up a desk stationary and tossed it nearby, the guards were suddenly distracted and Joseph silenced both of them before they could react, their barriers didn't hold as the ion shells punched clear into them and dropped them before they knew what happened. He dragged them away, but as luck would have it, he didn't expect the single guard to be on patrol, he strolled around the corner and straight into Joseph when he was about to take their bodies away.

Joseph jumped on the guard before she could put her rifle up; the asari guard however was harder to kill than she looked. Joseph was suddenly slammed by a biotic field and he was tossed only a few feet away, the guard was about to call out for help but Joseph managed to clear the distance and tackle her from behind. The asari smacked his head with her fist charged with biotic powers and made his head feel a little dizzy, but he then grabbed her hand before she could try again and snapped her wrist before he put his hand around her throat and crushed it.

The asari took only moments to die as a lack of oxygen and blood loss took its toll, Joseph piled her body next to the others. He called the team over and had them follow him to the level above; the level was clear except for the manager's office, there were 2 guards outside with the last 2 inside, Joseph made sure that the marines took the ones on the outside so Joseph could deal with the others who were trying to recover the data from the manager's console.

Joseph timed the whole thing and on 3 the guards dropped. Joseph sprinted at top speeds and kicked the door in, which wasn't necessary as the door was not on hinges and in truth the most interesting part was when he ended up flying through the flexi-steel doors and into the air. If there ever was a more surprising entrance, this would have to have taken the cake. Dramatic entries aside, Joseph managed to get the jump on the guards. He managed to down both before they could bring their guns up and then land on his face.

The team entered shortly with the guards outside falling and Rana stated.  
>"Interesting how you managed to blunder your way through every obstacle."<p>

He brushed himself off and replied.  
>"It's someone's job, and besides I never knew that the door wasn't on hinges."<p>

Joseph walked over to the terminal in the well decorated office, the tapestries of turian clans and families and all of the expensive decoration must have cost the manager quite a bit. The console on the desk was active but it didn't seem as though the guards had managed to access it, Joseph brought out his TAC pad and activated it; he used the intel system to do a quick bypass to begin downloading all the content and then wiping the computer.

He grew curious as to what the password was and then he filed through it when it was revealed. "The password is PASSWORD?" He exclaimed. "What kind of idiot uses the password as password?"

The tech marine disagreed to the statement.  
>"Sir who would guess that the password would be password, they'd be thinking about all of the other things besides it."<p>

"It's ingenious!" Rana thought out loud.

The last marine commented with. "I'm surrounded by idiots…"

XXXXX

AN: And we end it here for now, I don't want to cover all of the events too fast seeing as I was hoping to go into far more detail for the Quarian incident and the Omega Crisis, and there will be more to come!


	12. Chapter 12

CH12

XXXXX

The Exodus Part 1

XXXXX

AN: Well here's the quarians, and here's the council fleet, actually it's the turians who are being influenced so keep that in mind.

And also I had my birthday during the week, I can't specify though.

XXXXX

Migrant Fleet UCAF Super Cruiser Fate Solaris

The awesome and mighty Mythic class super cruisers were said to be the pride, honour and glory of the UCAF fleet, it is by far the most intimidating and yet incredible piece of technology in the galaxy, the Mythic class is a 25km vessel with a breadth of 2km and a height from top to bottom over 1.5kms, the whole ship was seen as an impenetrable fortress capable of moving and deploying a force of 170,000 marines and other entities of the UCAF military into the field.

The ship itself was made at the UCAF fleet facility in the Anomian system, the heart of the UCAF colonies and the centre of technological and scientific advancement as well as government. The ship has over 5 meters of ablative titanium and energised phase shift iridium and enhanced by a cluster of internal honey combs of an alloy known as Aethium. The ship was also outfitted with a dozen flight decks and over 1000 drop decks for HEV deployment. 70 rigs and 240 workshops, the ship was more a flying fortress than an actual ship.

But what makes it a ship is that it possesses one of the largest slip-space engines in the entire UCAF fleet up to the Advent class super dreadnought. 8 ultra-fusion generators work to keep the ship running for the next 500 years and the ship itself is requires low maintenance for continued use. The armaments vary as the UCAF fleet constantly adapted each Mythic class to fight in separate regions of space where space combat constantly changed and where enemy concentrations made it difficult to deal with space combat. The shield strength of the UCAF ship had about 9X greater than that of a UCAF heavy dreadnought making it capable of challenging a covenant super cruiser on equal levels, both in shield strength and firepower.

The UCAF Super Cruiser Fate Solaris was armed with 1 Ultra Mass Accelerator cannon which fired a super heavy ionic shell at 90% the speed of light, it could be modified to fire a round that could pierce the speed of light, however the Fate Solaris didn't receive this upgrade as the UCAF had never saw need to do so. The ship had 2 super MACs and 2 dual pintle mount MACs which served as crowd control for enemy fleets. The starboard and portside decks had a wall of AA batteries and 40 rail cannons and batteries which served to engage enemy ships in close-medium range, there was also the many missile batteries located on the flight deck in order to cover fighters while engaged. There were also a few prototypes of laser defences such as the M10 Helios.

UCAF Super Cruiser Fate Solaris was not looking as it was promoted, streaks of burns and open craters pockmarked its structure. And of course the reason would be the turian fleet that it was engaged with; in the time that the Solaris engaged the first 24 ships more than 58 other joined the brutal fight. The quarians were trying to defend their fleet and their homes; however 300 year old ships and a few obsolete second hand vessels weren't much of a challenge for a heavily armed assault fleet of turians.

The Solaris was overwhelmed by the task of destroying many ships at once, one would think that having 8 advanced dual MAC guns would be an advantage, but speed is also one that the UCAF ship lacked, the turians had more fighters and frigates than the Solaris could pick off fast enough. The Super MACs had made short work of the first few cruisers and carriers but still there were more than enough smaller corvettes and bombers taking pot shots at the massive super cruiser.

Duran gritted his teeth as he felt the whole ship shudder from the constant impacts made upon the shields, they were holding at 75% but that would change if they didn't deal with the rest of the fighters soon, the squadrons of daggers and falcons were still in their launching catapults, and flight deck 4 had been damaged during the engagement.

It was a relief when Tanya announced.  
>"Daggers and falcons are going to engage."<p>

The many fighters launched into the void, their engines boosting them to attack speed as they rapidly began to launch missiles and fire out streams of deadly MDRs. The emptiness of space was replaced by a spectrum of light as the sides clashed in space. However the battle wasn't over, even with the squadrons, the turians still had the superior numbers, and the quarians were panicking in the whole mess.

A dozen quarian vessels now were in ruins with other all suffering from damage, if they remained any longer in space they'd get completely overwhelmed by the turian fighter screens. Duran wouldn't begin to expend the MS teams unless he saw any reason to, but with the situation slowly degrading, he would soon have no choice. Shudders came again as a mass of missiles collided with the portside defences.

"Is there any word from the quarian admiralty?" He asked Tanya.

The AI shook her head.  
>"They aren't responding sir, I can't raise anything except the panic from the fleet, and no one has managed to pull in communication from the admiralty."<p>

Duran had an etching feeling that there was something more here that met the eye. He then remembered that the quarian admiralty board controlled most of the fleet, and they were all aboard the Rayya when the battle began… then the realisation hit him. "Tanya can you raise communication from the Rayya itself?"

Tanya checked on her communication link. Then she replied in shock.  
>"There's nothing there, the Rayya has gone silent."<p>

He knew it, there was more than just a simple attack.  
>"Cut off the head and the body dies, that's what they're after. They're trying to wipe out the quarians." He mumbled to himself.<p>

"What?" Tanya said perplexed.

"Think about it? The UCAF opens communication and then the admiralty board arrives to discuss in meeting about it, and they are all in the same room as the UCAF and then as the UCAF leaves, send in teams to eliminate the quarians command and then take out the quarian defences and force the quarians into submission, that's what they're after. They're trying to control the quarians!"

"But why? I thought the council disliked them not hated them enough to try and usurp them?" She said.

"But that's it, it isn't the council that's after the quarians." He replied.

"Then who would go after the quarians?" She asked him.

"That's the question, the UCAF loses control and is rejected, and the quarians blame us for the death of the admiralty board and we lose support, and not only that, the quarians aid the council against us while being controlled." He explained.

"Then how do we get aboard the Rayya, I doubt that the turians are just going to let us send out a squadron of pelicans to the main command ship of the fleet." She stated.

Duran pondered until he finally reached a conclusion, it wasn't the best, but it would have to do. "Get me Commander Anderson on the horn now; he's got a mission to do."

XXXXX

Level 3 flight deck 5

David Anderson never imagined that joining the UCAF from the UNSC colonies would be so active, he expected he'd turn up a reasonably modest life as a fleet captain with a skilled and well drilled crew going out on regular patrols and exploring, not exploring by experience from being tossed into a gunship and sent through an open kill zone packed with enemy fighters.

But sadly for him the UCAF was like that and if he wanted to survive, he was going to have to improvise on the way in. He exited from his turbo tram and arrived at the deck, it was a sure mess, fighters kept coming back for repairs and pilots ran about to fighters to engage in the battle. Marines kept their guns hot as they fired into the void outside trying to hold back any possible boarders and fighters from getting any lucky shots.

Anderson was about 22 being the commander of a small platoon of marines; his job was rapid response for tactical insertion missions and operations that dealt with high priority targets. He however had seen very little action as he only joined 5 years ago, he had been in a few situations and he's kept his ear to the ground about possible missions and operations, he was given command of one platoon as he would not need that many for the missions he'd be undertaking as it usually involved support from many other marine companies and forces.

David was a 22 year old Caucasian male with a scar on his left cheek from a brute, his hair was black and he had a face that many would consider a bit lazy, his eye sight was great, but his eyes seemed rather small. He was a sturdy person being only 5'8ft while others in his squad seemed slightly taller. He was a man with action in his blood, being Oscar Mike for almost the whole length of his career, he had it from his parents probably seeing as they constantly been in military service up until his mother was pregnant with him.

David enlisted in the UCAF hoping that it would be better to see the greater regions known as the Nova Stratus, but for 3 years all he ended up doing was service on abandoned colonies and search and destroy missions against covenant loyalists, he found that the brutes were much tougher than the ones that the UNSC fought and they had a wider range of deadlier weaponry to throw at the UCAF forces that constantly engaged them.

Anderson ended up on the UCAF stealth frigate the Aspire unto Tomorrow, which was just the Aspire S1 series which worked wonders around the regions of space as it deployed teams under cover and with the most advanced stealth tech, he was part of Duran's crew for over 3 years now and he had never regretted it. But since he came aboard the Fate Solaris about 2 months ago, he's been having some second thoughts as to how the missions now played out.

He was being sent in as an advanced unit with many other rapid reaction teams as they had to jump into enemy lines and disable them for the main forces to land. David had 5 close calls already and was beginning to wonder how much longer he'd be on the front lines for, but the captain reassured him that the UCAF would have him back in the colonies by the end of the month. That break was still just one fortnight away and it seemed fate had decided to play its hand by having him go on this ridiculous mission to jump onto a moving ship and manage to break in and save some hostages while dealing with unknown enemy special forces.

Anderson loved how the universe wanted to screw with him, it was like him arriving at the company the first day to replace a lost marine named Butch, the FNG 'fucking new guy' of the squad for a month until he saved all their asses from a covenant ambush. He had the feeling that his life was only starting to get hectic, he dropped by to the nearest load out and began to suit up, his black UCAF marine custom MKXI carapace wasn't going to cut it, the days of old fashioned energised plating and ablative armour wasn't going to help with a rescue mission.

He selected for his officer's custom Paladin MKVI armour, the suit provided maximum safety in case of vacuum breach and seeing as this was an old ship it would be smarter to play it safe. The Paladin had about 1 inch of adamantium alloys energised skin to protect him from anything up to a glancing hit from a scarab shot. The suit also provided internal support motors for extra strength of the user and enhanced speed, it was also stark grey and white, which was opposed to his usual black and navy coloured scheme, but he had no time to complain, the requisition officer wasn't around anyway.

He suited up and got his gear ready, I laser guide, TAC pad, Intra-com, 4 fusion grenades, 1 lancer assault rifle carbine with CQC shotgun attachment, M7MP, M6I and 14 concussion shells. He had enough firepower to turn anyone's day into a mess at a moment's notice. He did a quick check before he made sure that his team was waiting for him at the landing outside of the armoury. The squad consisted of 4 marines, his tech expert, explosives, a single android, and one stealth specialist.

The others in the platoon were already down by the gunships when he arrived. The marines saluted casually as there was rarely much formality in the 234th rapid response division, they were always going head first into trouble. Anderson saluted back and asked.  
>"What's the status report on the ship?"<p>

His tech expert answered him.  
>"Sir, we've got multiple bogeys indoors, close corners between 4 decks, we're entering through the lower waste disposal and engineering and making our way to the centre of the ship, we should make contact with the others squads there and engage the unknowns."<p>

"Good, let's get-." The commander never finished his sentence as a thunderous noise ripped into the hangar. "BOOM"

The marines on the flight deck were thrown around as the explosion sent objects into the air and turned it into deadly shrapnel, chunks landed around the deck in flaming pieces, David recovered fast enough to see what happened. An enemy gunship had managed to crash into the deck when it was struck by the AA fire from the battery teams. But it seemed that the occupants of the gunship had survived and were beginning to attack, a suicidal boarding action.

The marines down on the deck were fending them off, but many were still recovering from the surprise attack, David motioned to his marines. "LET'S KICK ASS MARINES!" He shouted. A shout of agreement followed and they followed him down the stairs to the flight deck, he couldn't count about 30 or so turian boarders firing off at the troops down in the hangar.

Anderson brought his AR and began a rapid burst of fire across the turians lines, they scattered and headed to cover immediately, the turians had smartened up since the beginning of the war, avoiding direct fire from the UCAF marines was the smarter option than trying to use their shields. David jumped over a barrier and ducked behind a workbench and began to unleash fire on the turians.

The hangar was soon filled with gunfire as the turians halted David and his team from reaching their gunship. Another burst from his AR sent one turian sprawling as his torso blew apart, he ducked once more as the turians concentrated their fire on him, he took a few glancing blows but his shields held strong, this told him at least that he could withstand more damage when he needed to. While he was drawing the fire from the turians, his explosives expert took his chance and lobbed a HE into the enemy position, the turians didn't waste time trying to get out of the reach of the blast, but were met with a wall of fire as they attempted to escape.

The explosion sent the remaining turians to the ground and David and his squad deftly wiped the rest out while they were down. After the momentary break from the killing David was alerted by Tanya the AI of the ship.  
>"Good work commander, the pelican flights are now leaving, you should take pelican flight with the others. They're leaving now."<p>

"Roger than Tanya." He replied.

He jogged with his squad over to their pelican gunship; they were greeted by the sounds of their pilot. "So boys any place you intend to go?" Flight Lt Melissa asked.

"Just send us to hell Melissa, you don't need the directions." He replied.

She smiled and kicked in the engines, the gunship lifted from the hangar and straight into the hellish void where the battle still raged, as they exited, they were met with heavy fire. Strafing fire from enemy fighters came and went as the battle progressed, the distance from the Solaris and the Rayya wasn't that far, but even so, it was a precarious ride, and one that the marines would try not to focus on while thinking about entering the disabled mother ship of the quarians.

The gunships had the difficult task of making a non-landing drop while still under fire, but as they approached it seemed that difficulty soon increased. Melissa heard the com chatter from the other pelicans as they made their final approach. It was then that one of the other pelicans close to the ship suddenly erupted in a violent explosion as it was struck multiple times by energy fire.

"What the fuck?" One of the other pilots yelled.

"Contact, contact from the Rayya, they're opening fire on us, break formation, take evasive manoeuvres and deploy with moving distance pattern Delta!" The command wing ordered.

David noticed the sudden change in movement and called out.  
>"What's going on?"<p>

"The Rayya still has active weapons, we can't get close enough to deploy without getting hit by their point defences, and we're making a delta pattern flyby. David, get your team ready to jump." She responded to him.

He acknowledged and had the team rig their jump packs, it was going to be a rough jump, but better than trying to risk a closer approach. The pelicans couldn't take that sort of punishment. David waited at the rear as the pelican made its flyby, at 200m the doors opened, David shouted. "Go, go, go!"

The marines flew out the rear while the pelican skimmed close enough to the hull of the Rayya, it was about as close as the team was getting to the exhaust port of the ship but they couldn't risk losing any more lives, they'd just have to improvise for the remainder of the mission. David and his marines made their descent to the hull of the Rayya, it was at an angle that David found rather uncomfortable as they'd hit feet first into the hull.

He landed on his feet but ended up rolling across the hull and smacking into a dozen protruding pieces of metal until he stopped about a dozen meters from the entry point, the others had done the same landing scattered over the hull. He called in.  
>"Sound off!"<p>

4 flashes of green came on and he sighed of relief, his team was still alive, he headed to the entry point and was soon re-joined with his team, the explosives expert was working away on the deck with a fusion cutter, the energised jet continued to cut until the port came away for them to fit inside. The team left their gear at the port entry and jumped inside, the narrow crawl space wasn't fun to fit inside and it was a trash port, which meant that there were a lot of things that the marines didn't want to talk about.

They exited into the interior of the quarian engineering level, not far away from the main lifts, the area that they had exited into had been filled with cramped spaces and boxes stacked over the whole place, it wasn't exactly what a marine would call safe considering anyone could jump out of nowhere and strike. David pulled his M7 and ordered his team to gear for close combat, they'd be engaging a number of enemies in the close quarters of the ship and it would be prudent to be prepared for anything.

When they headed through the interior of the ship they noticed a lack of enemies, it wasn't until they reached the corridors to the residential level of the ship. As they exited from another door they came upon a group of quarians, however they were armed and they were pointing weapons at their fellow quarians.

"This is outrageous, this is treason!" One captive yelled.

"Be quiet you fool, we do this in the interest of all quarians! We would not fold from our traditions just because the humans offer us a petty piece of land and Admiral Goro sees this!" The militant replied.

David spread his squad out into the blind spot of the quarian militant forces. What he heard now made things a little clearer; this wasn't just some plot from the turians. This was a coup. He held his reservations though, the objectives were to rescue the quarians, but seeing as the quarians were the enemy they had little choice. David signalled to his squads, they prepared to fire, in 3 seconds he gripped his hand and suddenly all of the militant quarians dropped dead from the shots.

The civilians being held hostage were shocked by the sudden intervention from the shadows as David and his marines appeared. As the civilians got up from their positions, David was greeted by one of them.  
>"Thank you soldier, we don't know how much longer we could wait around."<p>

"No problem, but we need to know what's going on? I heard that there was an admiral who had taken control of the ship." He asked.

The quarian male shook his head and explained with contempt for the man named Goro.  
>"Ah, that fool Goro believes that the quarians do not require the assistance of the UCAF, he had been in constant contact with the citadel council, and he even had been aided by them at one point to hold our loyalties to remain out of the control of the UCAF. However only recently had he begun to act irrationally, it was as if he was possessed to keeping the UCAF away, I guess the arrival of your offer finally set things off."<p>

"But why would your fellow quarians agree with this?" He gestured to the militant who had held them hostage.

The male shrugged. "We don't know, the idea of change to some had been an idea that many did not like especially those who were zealous to the AIs that your people use, and also something to do with an offer made by Goro, however we don't know much about it."

David asked. "Do you know about the status of the rest of the ship?"

"Sorry no, the communications went dead as soon as tour captain left the Rayya, I couldn't tell you what might have happened." He apologised.

"You better take your people somewhere safe." David suggested.

"Right and you better be careful, when we lost communications a dozen vital fuel sections blew out for unknown reasons, it could have been sabotage, but if you find any other survivors from engineering please get them to work on the damage, the ship can't move without the critical centres repaired." He requested before he left.

David acknowledged the request; it would be smart to get the ship up to operational status before they attempted anything, once they retook the Rayya the ship would be a sitting duck for the turian fleet should they decide that the ship wasn't worth saving if their infiltration teams failed. Quickly getting to work the team moved through the corridors of the ship, they passed more empty rooms or rooms sealed by occupants who refused to leave until the fighting ended.

It wasn't until they reached the lifts that they ran into a complication, on their arrival they found the lifts there, but the power wasn't. David pressed the button and found that there was no power, he had run into covenant gravity lifts that would at least send you up one way rather than not work at all, he sighed. "So what now?"

The tech marine checked on the lift.  
>"Main power's been severed and it seems that our rogue admiral has sealed all the terminals from the main control, I couldn't access the power even if I tried." He replied annoyed.<p>

"So, who's got any idea on routing power to this lift without drawing much attention to the admiral and managing to get this done manually?" He asked openly.

"We'll need to find the power conduits for the lift, but without a engineer more familiar with this layout I couldn't try this, possibly attempt it, but we might end up just blowing out a lot of fuses in the ship." The tech warned.

David made his mind up. "Okay, we'll split up. Two down to locate the power conduits and two to locate any engineers who might still be around…' He pointed at the tech. 'And you need to get to figure out a way to get this lift open."

"What you want me to magically sprout a fucking horn and make a wish and make the thing work? Yeah I only had experience in making shit happen like a miracle!" Allan Baird replied with as much sarcasm as possible.

As they went about to get their objectives completed one marine commented with. "Well look on the bright side, you haven't been shot yet."

XXXXX

David took his android team mate down to lower levels to search for their engineer, they would probably find them somewhere in the lower engineering interior probably hiding. They passed by the many flights of stairs and soon found themselves in the lower recesses of the ship, it was probably not the smartest thing to be wading in the water recycling and processing plant on a ship which had a race of alien who had the weakest immune system ever encountered.

David carefully navigated with his TAC pad's sensors, most of the life signs on the same level were all either locked inside their rooms or were busy being hostages, they had to pass another 2 patrols of the militant forces which had taken the ship. The marines needed to make sure that their presence was as minimal as possible until they took out the rogue admiral and saved the quarian vessel from the coup and the turians.

The arrived at the second sub level of the processing plant, there they closed in the on the only signal that didn't seem to be locked behind a metal door, hopefully. They waded along until they reached a maintenance shaft; it led to some water pipes that fed directly into the ship's circulation. The shaft was dark and humid. The marine commented that it was oddly hot; it was usually cool down in most ships where the processing plant was usually located. It took a while until they reached the signal that seemed to be there. They opened the door to the next part of the shaft when they found what was causing the humidity.

The quarian that they were after was trapped under a set of heavy pipes, it seemed that she had the unfortunate luck of being forgotten in the coup and was left down in the tunnel without any assistance, David and his squad mate quickly took to the quarian to check on her condition.  
>"Hey, you're still alive right?" He asked the quarian while checking on his TAC pad.<p>

Quarian replied with a stifled cough.  
>"Fine you bosh'tet; now get this thing off of me!"<p>

David shrugged to his team mate and then proceeded to lift the weight carefully; his suit compensated for any lack of strength and pushed the 160 pound pipe off of the quarian engineer. The engineer rolled away and then David dropped the pipe with a heavy thud, the quarian coughed a bit until she finally caught her breath and said.  
>"Thank you for the assistance stranger."<p>

"No problem, now if you don't mind we need you to assist us." He replied.

The quarian seemed to look at him quizzically until she realised that he wasn't a quarian, she took a step back and commented. "An outsider on the ship? I thought that your captain was already gone from the meeting?"

"He did leave, we just came aboard, and do you have any idea of the events that have unfolded in the past hour?" He asked.

"No." She replied with a shake of her head.

"The quarian flotilla is under attack and the admiralty board went silent when the attack began, your admirals have a traitor in their midst who had organised a coup of the fleet. He is currently holding the admiralty under the eyes of fellow supporters and assistance from Turian infiltrators which are why we are here." He summarised the whole 2 hours in 2 minutes.

The engineer simply stared at him idly and then commented.  
>"Okay, seeing as that made as much sense as a Batarian dating a turian, but seeing as the situation is very critical I'll just say yes to assisting you and get on with it."<p>

"Thank you for your cooperation ma'am."

XXXXX

The team regrouped back at the lift, David returned with the quarian and soon they began work on the lift power, the other two from the search returned with the news about the conduits and all the wiring in the ship and some news of activity.  
>As the corporal saluted he reported.<br>"Sir, we've got problems."

"What is it corporal?" He asked.

"We have heard that marines from infiltration team 3 and 9 have been detected, they report that they have engaged enemy turian forces on the higher levels, the 4th team engaging turians in a bio habitat filled with wheat like fields and crops. The other teams are still on their way to the rally point, they state that they'll begin to draw attention from the centre of the ship and ask that you hurry the hell up." He finished with a curt smile.

"Good old Lt, he's damn lucky I don't kick his ass and put my boot between his legs." David grumbled.

"We'll look on the good side sir, being insulted would be the second worst thing to happen on this mission today and the first being the fact that we're all probably gone off to die at the hands of some trap to lure us in." Baird commented.

"Shut up and work marine." He looked over to their quarian engineer.  
>"Is there any way to get to the centre of the ship without much detection?"<p>

The quarian busily worked but she responded.  
>"Um, there's a about 3 access tunnels from the lift on level 7 from there you just need to hurry through them and then you'll arrive at the access point to the command deck and then you can just enter from the hallway outside, but be careful, if it is Goro then he'll have posted security near the entry hatch on the command level." She warned.<p>

Before he forgot he told the engineer.  
>"Um, one of your fellow quarians had asked me to pass on a message about some serious problems from engineering. It seems that there were a dozen or so critical lines of fuel or energy which had been damaged and the ship can't move without them active, he's asked to contact all the engineers possible to fix it before the ship can escape from the combat zone."<p>

"Keelah, I never get breaks, well thanks for the message, I better see if I can get to work on those now." She packed her things away.

They departed without another word, the engineer would probably get her job done, but not without more help, David felt at least better that they hadn't run into too many complications. From the lift they travelled on the path that the engineer marked out, from level 7 they exited. The corridors were empty except for abandoned maintenance equipment and more crates. They passed through to the shaft that was mapped; it was leading straight through into the command level in a storage room.

David went first and was followed by the others shortly; they kept their group tight and made sure to check their corners as they reached the command level. The team arrived at their checkout point, 6 of the other teams had made it as well, and they were all waiting for the signal to head in. David checked his motion sensors and scanned for movement, only 3 targets were located in the storage room ahead and 4 others about 40 meters beyond them, it was where squad 8 was waiting.

He picked out his com.  
>"Squad 8 this is Autumn Actual, come in."<p>

"Autumn Actual 8 is a go, shall we proceed?" The sergeant of 8 asked.

"Go on my mark, I'll signal when I breach the door on my end, silence the guards where you are and prepare to begin extraction, over." He replied.

"Copy that, we're on your mark commander." The sergeant acknowledged.

David motioned for the team to follow; he had the stealth specialist move ahead while he and the others prepared for the rush to get inside. The marine cloaked and moved ahead without making a sound, it was impressive how much the UCAF had invested into specialists such as the Revenant and Ghost programs. Heading in the marine checked the door, and moments later a flash of green had confirmed the door was now rigged.

"Okay, mark in 3, 2, 1…" He hit the trigger.

The door blew out as 1 fusion charge detonated, the concussive force was enough to paralyse and stun the occupants on the other side, and David rushed in with the squad as they raided the room. Squad 8 had done the same once the detonation went off, but now it was a race of time, once the explosions went off the chances were that the quarians in the command centre had heard the detonations. The other squads from the strike team had all done their attacks in near consistent time with David's he hoped that it wouldn't be too late to reach the admirals though.

He ran through taking down whoever was still standing and headed on through the main doors to the CIC. He opened the door and was blinded by light; he took a step back and was then looking at the occupants. A dozen heavy weapons and 2 YMIR mechs with 36 quarian militants and 18 turian marines pointed in his direction.

He heard the single voice out of all the others now shouting at him.  
>"Greetings commander…"<p>

XXXXX

AN: And that does it for David's arrival into the story! Anderson will be in the story for the next few chapters as he continues on his wayward career. And also we get to meet someone special for the next part of the quarian migrant fleet arc. Next up we go back to Shepard on Omega!


	13. Chapter 13

CH13

XXXXX

Revival

XXXXX

Soulsavers- Revival

2555- Shanxi, Evacuation Centre 12, Hardin's Port

The sounds of the gunships roared overhead as the clouds beckoned forwards with heavy winds, dust and ash carried in through the air as the battle over the capital city continued. The sun was setting over the horizon its tinged aura illuminated the clouds a beautiful bronze and orange, it softened the sight of the world in turmoil, even as fire raged, and the earth burned. He could feel the heat, the warmth, the world, as it cried in pain.

Said gonna be a revival tonight ooh  
>I wanna see a revival yeah<br>Gonna be a revival tonight  
>Lord, let there be a revival yeah<p>

Shepard took moments to feel the warmth slip away from him as he hit the ground, his body weight carried through the air as another sun erupted next to him. His ears couldn't register the noise from the explosion, but he could feel the impact of the shockwave pass through his very fibre, he landed upon the ashen ground and felt the cold earth wake him.

Forgive what I have done  
>It means my soul's survival, oohh<br>I need you so, it's sin  
>Put an end to my suffering oh<p>

He grasped the earth below as he felt himself attempting to recover from the impact, blood seeped from a wound that had appeared from the battle, he could feel the warm blood drip from his aching body, his adrenaline kicked in to keep him going, he didn't want to die, not like this. He stepped up and above, mass accelerator rounds zipped around him, puncturing the earth and environment around him.

He was pushed to his side as an armored figure appeared; it knocked him to the ground and let his head hit the floor once more. He could see its visor, the angled head, the enemy; a figureless being that just had a gun in its hand, alien, xeno, and names couldn't define what these beings really were, ultimately because it is meaningless. They are all equal in death aren't they?

Why am I so blind with my eyes wide open? ooh  
>Trying to get my hands clean in dirty water <p>

His fate was not met at the end of that gun though, the figure buckled and exploded in a messy bloody gore as it was struck by a heat round, and in moments he felt the gore wash away and was replaced by calmness. He heard someone yell his name.

"Daniel!" Daniel felt the hands of someone lifting him.

He was now facing the familiar look of his brother, Aldo; he smiled at him and said.  
>"Come on Daniel, get back up marine, you need to get going. The transports are coming, mum and dad are going soon, and you need to go." Al said pulling him to his side.<p>

I wanna see a revival tonight  
>Lord, let there be a revival yeah<br>I need to see a revival tonight oh  
>Wanna see a revival oohh <p>

Aldo pulled him through the streets of ash and blood; even as bullets and explosions flew through the air Al wasn't perturbed from his task. His iron willed brother had tasks far greater than just getting him to safety; Al was always the strongest, if not the oldest for a reason. He carried Shepard to the port where the people scrambled for the safety of a transport to the heavens above.

Shepard was pulled to the side as Al moved him to an emergency terminal where the marines were transporting wounded. Through the hallways of the dying and dead they emerged at the stairwell to the nearest evac gunships. Pelican flights were boarding with as many people they could fit; his gunship was waiting for him at the end of a landing platform.

Why am I so blind with my eyes wide open? yeah  
>Now I need someone<br>Let this dark night be done oh 

Daniel felt himself being lifted into the gunship, blood was still dripping but he tried to grab onto Al, he said. "Don't go, don't Al…" He grunted through his teeth. His brother put his hands on his own and unclasped them. Daniel felt anesthetic being injected into his wound and he felt light headed, he couldn't feel his hands.

"I won't be gone Daniel, I'll be right here, with them, we'll always be with them." He punctuated the sentence with a smile.

I need you so, it's sin  
>Put an end to my suffering<br>I wanna see a revival tonight  
>Lord, there needs to be a revival <p>

The gunship lifted off and Daniel felt the world move away, he tried to reach out, no words came, he felt it all leave, the warmth, the sights and sounds. As they reached above the layers of ash and smoke, it happened. The light of warmth he felt as he stared at the sun, the light came from below as it engulfed all of Shanxi, he felt the warmth pass him and he felt nothing else, but that warmth.

"We're waiting brother."

Omega- Residential level 20

The world came crashing back to him as he woke up, his vision blurry except the blood pooling exactly where he had his scar from years back; it had healed but left a mark that made everyone ask what had happened. He never gave a clear explanation aside from "Shanxi". He gripped his chest and felt the warm blood pool away; he checked his internal suit systems and made sure he had been treated by the auto medical response.

His body was hurt, but not as badly as when the gunship had crashed, his body was sore all over and it would take some time before his drugs were administered to get him up again. He coughed and looked over himself, all the years of fighting this war had turned him so dull, his grey plating and black carapace had been utterly ruined, and it no longer held the dreaded black and silver, but dull grey and white of repairs and armour damage.

He then felt the cold metal floor of the Aires gunship with his hands before he tried to sit up, he suspected that the gunship crashed and he was lying in the fuselage about 3 meters from the cockpit. The aching of his bones and their cracking followed as he tried to lift himself up, this wasn't the first time he had managed to end up being tossed around like he was a salad, and this surely wouldn't be the last.

He tasted tin in his mouth, he could hear his internal medical systems kicking in, his body felt slightly better when the painkillers kicked in, he managed to bear the pain and stand upright, he analysed where he was and his previous assumption was correct, he was sitting in the remains of the fuselage, but the cockpit was lying in pieces as well. He kicked off some of the trashed metal and search inside, he found that Carol wasn't present in the gunship, and neither were Mikael and Matthew.

He decided to take a short break so his body could repair itself, the internal bio dispensers were at their peak to keep the Colonel upright, it was amazing that he could walk considering the crash he had taken was worse than that from his HEV jump 4 years prior. He made a quick check on inventory, he still had his gear but he had lost a few grenades, he'd probably have to make do with what he has left. There was also the question about what he had encountered, his head throbbed trying to remember the voice, it sounded sinister and out of place.

He made sure to keep his ears and eyes out for any further encounters with the collectors, the being that he had faced was one of their creations, and he had still the harsh memories of Matano and the first encounter with the collectors. But something was nudging in the back of his mind, he didn't know what it was but it made him uneasy, the collectors and the reapers, what did it all boil down to? He had more questions than answers and the ONI knew something he didn't, especially since Ackerman told him about the Shadows.

He checked his health gauge [89%] it was better enough, Shepard lifted himself from the wreckage and began to search, his TAC beeped in as it registered the contacts in the region, there were 3 signals, all from his team. Mikael was stuck down in the lower levels of Omega, he seemed to be dealing with a lot of collectors, he also seemed to have friends with him, and it made sense seeing as the collectors were the real threat. Carol was far to his west, but her signal wasn't showing up clearly, she was probably using a scrambler in order to hide her location again… And finally Matthew was on the higher levels above, he was battling with some collectors in residential level 4.

Shepard decided to take his chances with Matthew, his captain was his first priority as Carol would only join up once she has done what she wants to do, and Mikael is a brilliant soldier with plenty of skill and valour, he could hold his own against a platoon worth of krogan battlemasters and not flinch, he had no need to truly fear for his team, they were prepared for this kind of situation or else they would have never agreed to come along or ever survived long enough to join.

He felt his strength return, he moved from the wreckage and through the dirty streets of Omega, he'd have to get to Matthew as fast as possible and hopefully find some help along the way. He carefully negated the streets as his TAC pad mapped out his location. He found that there was a lot of traffic from the general communications, the marines had landed over the whole station in random groups and were now being attacked from left to right by the collectors, and it seemed that the collectors didn't want the UCAF to interrupt their plans.

He smirked but then had a flashback to the collector crab unit, it seemed more than capable of ripping into Aires gunship, and it spoke through to him, he then felt the memories of his past keeping up with him now, all of those years, one would think that a person could have gone passed them, but now he didn't know. He pulled through so often, but not today, repressed memories have been resurfacing ever since he joined the helldivers.

He got to his feet and made a marker on his position, he searched for a route to the upper levels to reach his captain and regroup with the others to find the asari leader of Omega. Loading his AR he jumped away from the wreckage and kept himself shadowed in the dim and dirty streets of the massive station. His trip took him from the crash through empty streets and plazas.

As he passed an intersection in the district he found his way through the slums, from there he made his first contact with the collectors ground forces. It was halfway across from an apartment complex, 2 dozen chitin armoured figures stood on guard, he could see that they were not part of the inhabitants mostly because they were the most Omni present group around and they had guns.

The collectors were moving large black pods from the apartment, a number of the pods were still on the ground but those were soon to be gone as well, the collectors were moving them by air and ground. His objective was the plaza next to the apartment, it had a lift to the levels above and he needed to make the trip through 4 junctions on the way so it was a long way up.

He could tell that this wasn't going to be an easy attack, 24 against 1 was never good odds, but then so was the 700 odd assault waged on Matano by the collectors trying to kill him. He took out a modified Oracle scope, he attached it to his AR and began to observe the collectors movements. 4 were on patrol, 8 were in the plaza's front, and the rest were monitoring the pods.

The guards on patrol came first; he'd need to be very careful in dealing with them first before going ahead to punch by the rest of the collectors.

He dropped down into the shadow of one of the buildings nearby and brought his AR to bear on the 4 moving guards at the front, he fired in 2 short bursts and all four dropped in moments. The AR that he had wasn't silenced and it was easy to tell where shots come from when everything is dim, the 18 remaining collectors converged upon Daniel's position.

He ran and dropped behind the cover of a wall as fire from the collectors sprayed his position, he waited for a pause before he fired back; he clipped 2 more as they came from the plaza front. Ducking again behind another wall to his right he prepared to rush around the oncoming collectors. As another wave of gunfire stopped he began to fire in bursts alongside the right flank killing 3 collector drones as he rushed. He was stopped as one brought a particle beam to bear on his position.

The beam drained part of his shields and left him worried about how much more damage he could take before he'd have to duck again. He rolled over his cover and on to the other side while firing, his shots peppered 2 more collectors before the particle beam dropped him into cover once more, he couldn't keep up with the beam user on the far left of his position, there was too little visibility to see the collector.

His position was quickly isolated as the collectors began to strategize; the 11 other began to concentrate fire on his position. He was pinned and without help, he either had to make a quick withdrawal or he was going to have to fight all of them off at once. His shields were still charging when he heard the noise.

"**We can see all Shepard!"** The deep voice shouted in his mind.

He turned to find the source of the noise coming from the rear was glowing, its eyes burning bright, it was firing vigorously at his position, and it was one of the damned special units that he assumed were from directly controlled drones. He felt the pressure now, the creature was pummelling him with gunfire and the regular bursts of fire blasts.

He needed a lot of help now, and unknowingly his prayers were answered. From around the street a heavy armoured figure in red appeared, his armour smothered with the blood of the collectors and blood pack, his years of combat saving his rump more than once. The armoured krogan had witnessed the guts of the human taking on the whole collector token force, he'd take the distraction to distribute some punishment and make his own way from the slums.

The krogan brought his shotgun and got right around the distracted collectors before he unleashed a burst of speed and began blowing into the unsuspecting drones. The collector's attention was suddenly taken from the primary target to another, a krogan who had decided to join the fight. Shepard heard the shift in fire as the collectors battled the unknown; Shepard popped from cover and unleashed hell upon the possessed collector.

The creature buckled and exploded into ash as the bullets shredded it; Shepard ducked behind cover once more and reloaded his rifle before he moved. He could see that he had been saved thanks to blind luck, a krogan was drawing away some of the attention, his weapons blazing as he fired a dozen or so rounds as he went into the collectors, his armour withstood a lot of the fire as he hammered into them.

Shepard felt it would be rude to leave while the fight was still going on, at least not without returning the courtesy to the alien. He fired into the rear of the collectors and began to hack his way through them as fast as the krogan could. In moments the last of the collectors were gone and there were only 2 figures that stood out amongst the dead.

Shepard had no respect for the krogans, he had seen their method of fighting, brutal and blunt, as well as over aggressive, but this method of fighting had just saved his ass from being cooked by the collectors. He went over to meet with the krogan not forgetting to still have his finger on the trigger. The red armoured krogan stood over some of the dead picking around for some heat sinks, the need for heat sinks were important in continuing the fight.

He turned his head up as the human soldier arrived, he could tell this was a veteran though, the armour and body language suggested it before the human ever made it to him. He asked.  
>"What is it that you want?"<p>

The human in the black ebony armour responded.  
>"You got some pretty damn big death wish going in for that fight for me."<p>

"Yeah, well I need to get up to the level above anyway, the collectors have pretty much overrun the whole slums, and I'd rather take my chances up there than down here." He replied over the searching of the bodies.

A red stick appeared from the hand of the human marine, it was a heat sink.  
>"Looking for this?"'<p>

The krogan laughed, he never knew that humans had such a martial sense of humour.  
>"You're fast, I'll give you that."<p>

He took the heat sink and stood up, his height was just a bit above the human's own, he could tell that the human wasn't like a normal one though, he had probably some cybernetics and a lot of physical upgrades, but the krogan was still a damn sure sight for sore eyes.  
>"So human what can I do for you?" The krogan asked.<p>

"How about introductions? I'm Colonel Shepard, 88th helldivers." Shepard revealed.

The krogan replied. "The names Wrex, Urdnot Wrex."

The human and the krogan looked at each other for a moment, Shepard had his first meeting with a krogan who didn't want to smash his face into the ground, and Wrex had just made his first conversation with a human who didn't want to rip him to pieces with a knife. The ice was broken as Shepard asked.

"So, where do you plan on going?" He asked pointing to the plaza behind him.

"Needed to get to any level above, down here the collators already cleared out a number of blocks, it wouldn't be too smart to remain in the district any longer, I'm just trying to survive as usual." The krogan shrugged.

"Same, but I need to get to the level above to regroup with my squad mates; we're here for the search for Aria T'loak." He explained.

The krogan raised an eyebrow behind his helmet.  
>"You're after the pirate queen herself? Bold move."<p>

"Well we do need her help in dealing with this collector problem. Rather not waste the chance getting some help along the way." Shepard said.

The krogan contemplated the idea of jumping along for the trip, having a human help in the coming fights would be a damn sure thing better than trying to run it on his own, he wouldn't have engaged the collectors directly if Shepard wasn't here. He made his decision.  
>"Fine, I'll accompany you human, I think there's something to be learned." He replied.<p>

"Good, and by the way, call me Shepard." The colonel said.

The krogan smirked and followed after the colonel as they headed to the lifts. It didn't take long for them to reach the next junction on the level above, it was at level 14, from there they had to take a long way around the fighting to get to the next junction and reach 9 and from there the final route would get them to 4 where they'd reach main level where the port was, there they could begin their search for the location of Aria.

But along the way they had intercepted communications from the other marines who had landed, half the main force was scattered over the whole station with the other half engaged with the collectors on the levels below. He could tell that the marines were in need of direction, especially against the possessed forms of the collectors, he would need to command over them once he regrouped with the others.

On arriving at the main level of Omega he and Wrex were both greeted by the sounds of heavy fighting, they were presently about 40 contacts where they were, Matthew's signal was about 2 blocks in the direction of the club nearby. Shepard removed his AR and loaded in some HE shells, he was sure to fight something bigger and if his suspicions were correct they'd run into something bigger than just a crab.

Checking their sights the two made their way through to the outside plaza where they found themselves in the largest shoot out on the station, 40 contacts were neutral and all were a mix of UCAF marines and locals fighting against the collectors. Bullets and explosives scattered over the whole area as the battle raged on, Shepard was faced with the arduous task of locating someone of command experience.

He made his way through to a make shift command post by a few of the officers, he could tell they were part of the advanced assault that was supposed to have been on the lower level. He was saluted to by 4 marines.  
>"Sir, we didn't know if you were alive or not, but its damned good thing to see you here."<p>

"Status report gentlemen." He asked curtly.

The Lt brought out an image of the area.  
>"Sir, there's about a 3 fucking battalions worth of the bug eyed mother fuckers between us and Captain Matthew's position, they're clogging the whole road ahead and from around the district, we can't push through without any more support. And from what command has managed, they can't send support, at least not yet."<p>

"Well then we'll just have to make do won't we? I need to get to Matthew's position search for the leader of Omega." He said to the Lt.

"Aria, T'loak is on the other side of the district near the location of the captain sir, that's why he's there." The Sgt of the officers explained.

"Well then looks like I'm going in then." He smirked.

"I'd advise you against that option sir; we have reports of a ton of heavy armoured crab like things between us and them, there's no clear report but there's also a report that there's some kind of walker there as well. We don't have the man power or the firepower to punch through the enemy lines. We'll leave ourselves open for assault from any direction." The Lt warned.

"Who said anything about you marine? I need heavy weapons and a single route to clear the way to the captain, now do you know of any route and do you have any heavy weapons?" He asked.

The Lt and the officers looked at each other and shrugged, the Lt replied. "We have 3 heavy weapons, and there are 2 routes you can take, but we warn you, once you take them they close behind you, we can't risk being flanked while we're still pinned here." He told Shepard cautiously.

"I'll take them." He replied confidently.

XXXXX

Shepard was granted access to a whole drop pod filled with weapons, he removed a light 32cal machine gun, the Tristan Lancer machine gun was one of the UCAFs older weapons, it proved effective in the war and in the conflict with the turians, it held a 400 round ammo case and had 5 ammo drums, it was modified with MA upgrades to ensure maximum effectiveness, it was a bit bulky though when used.

There was a 40mm HEAT tank lance, the short hand grenade launcher was required to be used on enemy vehicles and armoured transports, it would no doubt provide the firepower to crack by the heavy infantry and enemy walkers. And then there was the final weapon, an External Exo-skeleton Assault Armour attachment.

The suit attachment was used for field use, but it would serve the colonel for this mission, he needed it for the 2 heavy weapons, and all of the ammo he was carrying. There was also the fact that the exo-skeleton had a short sided mini-gun and grenade launcher attached to it, it was enough for dealing with enemy crowds.

But before the two left, Shepard got one thing for the krogan who was accompanying him; he pulled a modified AA12 from the pod and gave him the ammo needed for the CQC combat shotgun. The krogan eyed him when he gave him the shotgun.  
>"You sure you trust me with this?" He pointed at the bronze coloured shotgun.<p>

"Why not? That's probably going to save you a lot of trouble, besides; we need to rush the collectors, no need to hold back." Shepard commented as he brought the exo-skeleton armour up to operational standards.

The krogan nodded and followed after Shepard as they took the alternate route to the Captain and to the location of Aria T'loak. Along the way Wrex asked.  
>"You have a bold plan human?"<p>

"Yeah, it's rather simple, we fight or we die, that's the plan, why need to bother with going head first into an oncoming army of bugs?" He replied.

The krogan nodded and followed after him. When they finally arrived at the end of the route they paused before opening the doors. When they exited into the open they found themselves in the square of one of the residential malls, the far end of the mall was open up to the barricades were, the captain's signal was there with a team of marines and a number of other neutral signals.

Shepard kicked himself into gear as he brought the heat behind the collectors; he fired in heavy bursts with the Lancer and shredded the rear guard of the collectors before stomping on the others who had gotten in his way. The sudden assault from the rear made the collectors turn and face away from the captain and the others as the danger was no longer in front but at their back.

2 walkers appeared and strafed the exo-suit with fire; Shepard returned the favour with the 40mm guns and blew through the walkers in moments. The battle lasted for about 2 minutes before the helldiver arrived at the front of the mall where the marines and Captain Matthew, and Aria were. He disembarked once he got the suit behind cover.

He was greeted by the familiar black and blue armour that Matthew wore; he received a salute from his second in command. "Sir!" The captain said.

"Good to see you too Matt, what's the situation with Aria?" Daniel asked.

Before the captain could respond a voice interjected.  
>"Why don't you ask me yourself?"<p>

He turned to see a white suited asari with face markings and a SMG in her hands; she smiled as she walked up. "So looks like the info was right, the helldivers were coming to greet me, I guess that means you're the dreaded Hellbane of the turians?"

Shepard remembered when the turians called him that when he started his viscous campaign against the turians back in 2556, he smiled and replied.  
>"Possibly, and I take it that you are Aria T'loak?"<p>

"Yes, but I'd like to know is why you are here." She said.

Shepard divulged the situation.  
>"We need information, specifically on a spectre, one named Sarent Arterius, we were told that you might have some leads into his activity here in the Terminus systems especially since that he has the collectors allied to him, or I suspect that you didn't know?"<p>

Aria visibly blanched at the news, she hadn't known that Saren was allied with the collectors, but that explained half of everything that's been going on with Terminus, she replied.  
>"I might not have known, but thanks for the update, the information is with me, and if you want it, you can help me before you get it."<p>

Shepard suspected that it would end like this, there's always a catch with any of those who live in the Terminus systems and even in council space, and they were always a like. He nodded and asked.  
>"What do you need to get done?"<p>

Aria smiled and explained.  
>"The collectors first of all, I'd like you to get them the fuck off my station ASAP. I'd also like to ask if you could help with the problem down in the lower functions of the station, air on level 4-9 have been contaminated with a virus specifically designed to kill any being that isn't collector based, I don't know when it was launched, but its spreading from the far levels, and with the fighting going on, I suspect that its reaching the higher levels soon. So if you and the rest of the marines don't want to die, I'd kindly like to ask you to plug up that fucking hole."<p>

"Done, but I'm going to need to regroup with my marines, they're scattered over the whole station, and I don't work alone unless I need to." He replied.

"Fine, I won't stop you, but don't take too long, because I'm sure the collectors would love any chance to take more shots at us." She expressed.

Before Shepard and the others were about to organise their departure, a thunderous shockwave sent them all shaking. Shepard have been able to tell what was an impact from usual strikes, that wasn't a MAC shot, he looked around the cover and found himself staring at a very big red eye.

"OH You have to be fucking kidding me!" He shouted.

There a massive shape of a squid faced creature beared its fangs out at the colonel and the marines, this day was just getting better and better.

XXXXX

OPTIONS!

Here's for the upcoming chapter on Shepard's mission:

Option 1 is to recover Mikael from the lower levels first

Recover Carol from the depths of the far east of the station

Recover the marine forces from the battle field and help them secure a landing zone

Direct confrontation with the collectors in the environmental control zones

Deal with scattered enemy jamming signals

Unknown reports of strange activity in lower levels of 17, puzzle to come

Wait for Spartan support.

You now decide how this is to go, all of these can be put into order by whatever you want, any ideas just say them, this part I leave to you guys.

XXXXX

Got this message from someone a while back…

Y U no update? ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

Hmm that's a good question, well I've had 2 projects released in the past week and It's hard trying to come up with a good plot line for those two stories so, you're kind of going to have to wait on those plans. Updates are kind of slow, and with this new option of choosing the story line I want to maximise the potential for interaction with the audience, I need to figure that part out as best as I can.

And seriously a 10,000 chapter is not easy to come up with on the spot.


	14. Chapter 14

CH14

XXXXX

What the future holds, what the future gives

XXXXX

AN: Rather important

(This will wrap up our comedic streak for the chapter and we'll get back onto task, BTW why anyone hadn't voted? I mean come on guys I need the votes on the previous chapter to be answered, or do you want me to take a blind shot at this and hope that everyone finds it fine, if so then I'll do that, but I'd rather like to hear about the story's progression from you guys. Well here's the chapter…)

XXXXX

Noveria

Port Han Shan

Joseph and the marines were finishing their upload of the manager's files and getting what they needed to for them to access the banks of stored weapons down in the lower levels of Synthetic Insights. The team exited the office in moments and hurried off back to the manager, they weren't interrupted as they headed back, they returned to the café where the turian was still present, he smiled when he saw the Spartan and his allies return.

He smiled jovially and asked.  
>"Have you succeeded in getting my records back?"<p>

The Spartan produced the data disk and handed it to the turian who then checked it on his data pad, he smiled and then replied.  
>"Thank you. Here's the password for the access into the storage level of the port, the weapons should be sitting about near the back of the workshop." He uploaded the information into the Spartan's TAC pad and said.<br>"It's been nice doing business with you Spartan, have a good day."

The team departed and headed off when the team com received an update.  
>"Hey sir, I think I need some help." Jason Taylor said as he worked.<p>

"Define help?" Joseph asked.

Jason struggled with some tools as he fixed the door and replied.  
>"I need someone to locate an adaptor, the fission ones; they usually work well for these kinds of lifts."<p>

"Okay, we'll just add that to the list…" Joseph was about to add something else to that sentence but decided against it.

Somehow he just loved that the whole galaxy was screwing with him. The team hurried to the area between the Synthetic Insights and Binary Helix. Joseph used the codes and accessed the door to storage level, the team found themselves in the lower levels and of course it wasn't as easy as one would think…

Upon the doors opening into the storage level the team was confronted by another interesting problem. The sight before them wasn't an organised neat row of rooms where they had labs in each one; the whole place was a gigantic storage room which had over 200 prefabricated rooms and what seemed to be a drop of 9 meters below to a painful injury or death. The room stretched over 200X200 meters and seemed to have a complex of walkways and catwalks.

Joseph commented.  
>"You have got to be fucking shitting me."<p>

The walkways were cut off and certain intervals and there was a control box nearby controlling all the cranes and walkways, but the thing was such a maze that it would take hours trying to figure out where their items were. Joseph also noticed that there was a noticeable number of walking security drones which were all armed and looking rather dangerous.

One popped out from the side of them and commented.  
>"Intruder alert, you are not permitted to be in this section of the facility, please vacate premises or face extermination."<p>

Joseph whipped his pistol out and shot the machine in the face. The Loki droid exploded moments later and Joseph asked. "Okay, so who wants to control the lift while we go looking for the parts we need?" He asked.

The team hacker of course volunteered.  
>"Sir, I'll get you through, but don't count on it being fun, those catwalks are sitting ducks for open fire and I think there's a droid manufacturing plant down there as well."<p>

"Don't worry corporal, just don't fuck up and we'll be alright, or I'll be haunting your ass if you survive." He replied.

The marine nodded and quickly sliced the panel into the controls. Rana asked.  
>"Are you sure about this?"<p>

"Well how else are we going to get through all of this? I can't waste ammo on the droids and the fact that we're already here should be enough, unless you want to go and find an alternative." He replied.

The asari nodded and followed after the Spartan as they got onto the 4th walkway, the marine started up the controls and brought the machine to move the crane, the marine had to be careful as the boxes of high explosive content might accidently fry the Spartan and the team should he bump them, and also there were walkways packed with armed droids.

After 10 minutes of trial and error which had resulted in a lot of explosions the team arrived at their objective, it was a prefab with a large caution sign on it, the team opened the room and entered inside, there they found their heavy weapons, the plasma launchers were still in prime condition, except one, but the rest were fine.

"Okay, secure 3, that's all we need and then we need to go after than damn fission adapter for the private." He said as the walkway moved once more.

So here's the summary to the next part, left, right, back, back, left, left, up right, down, down, right, left, and then 3 forwards and then another left, before a level up and then right. The walkway was half riddled with holes when they finally arrived at the spare maintenance fab; it was there that they found the fission adapter.

Joseph swore once more and this time at his technician.  
>"What the fuck? The fission adapter is a box the size of a footlocker and it was stuffed inside this damn place?" He said to himself.<p>

The adapter was a 40kg rectangular prism with a large energy sign on it; the battery easily took him to carry it, and it was hard shooting whilst carrying a box that size. The team had to take their sweet time to get back and avoid being attacked, not because Joseph had his hands full, it was because the battery would explode if the thing took a direct hit.

The team made it back to the other side in 20 minutes and then got back out of the storage facility. They arrived back at the lounge and then to the emergency lift where Joseph deftly dropped the 40kg box into the arms of the marine technician and then they headed up back to the admin office where Valesi and their explosives expert was waiting.

"What took you guys so long?" The marine asked as he ran the calculations over again.

"You don't want to know." Joseph said pulling the massive gun out.

"Okay, so how do we do this, do we just blast the doors apart and then knock him out or just confront him and then ask him to stand down?" Tara asked.

"I think we should get this over and done with ASAP, so let's blow the door and see what he has to say." Joseph said as he pointed the plasma launcher at the doorway.

The team ducked as the Spartan began blowing the doorway to pieces, the plasma launcher had a lot of kick but it was made for those who could carry it well and the Spartan had more than sufficient strength in holding the weapon steady as he fired into the doorway. The masonry around the door began to sizzle and melt as the door finally gave way from the continuous bombardment of plasma.

The smoke and steam cleared and finally they could enter the smouldering hole. Once inside they found their way to the officer where the doorway split off, they walked into the room and were confronted by a single scrawny looking salarian in uniform. He had a gun in his hand and pointed it at the team.

"Stay where you are you damn usurpers, I'm too busy to die!" He said nervously.

"You're not busy, you're about as dead when I grab that gun and slam it into the side of your face, if you don't drop it that is." Joseph replied.

The statement had not done as well as the Spartan had hoped and the salarian looked even more unstable. So now what to do?  
>[Paragon] Talk the salarian down from his panic and make him submit peacefully<p>

[Renegade] Grab the pistol and do as you said

[The marine way] Bitch slap him in the face and then confront the fucker and make him consider his situation

[The Spartan way] Crush the pistol and give him the stare

Option selected: Spartan

Joseph snatched the pistol from the hand of the salarian and crushed it in his hand and stared at the administrator who paled and said. "I think I might want to step down from office."

Tara arrested the salarian and Joseph got to work on getting the doors open for the rooftop, the gunships would have a clear landing to pick up the survivors and he could now access the location to the Peak 15 complex. The facility was located about 40km to the east of Port Han Shan; it was in a mountain within a valley.

The valley itself seemed to have a lot of security and the route to the facility was packed with dangers as there were definite reports of activity in the region. The team would have to trudge through it with some help, and he knew where to get help. The Spartan called in the fleet.

"This is Octavia Actual, lieutenant report." The AI asked.

"Octavia, I have confirmation of the facility, however it's heavily guarded and I do believe that our friends have probably left a lot of their buddies waiting for us." He replied.

"Very well, the pelican flights will drop some support off, but after that you're on your own, you better hurry lieutenant, the reaper fleet has already begun landing on the other facilities in the region, you need to get to the Peak 15 complex and finish it." She reminded him.

"On it Octavia." He replied.

The cut of the com and he addressed his team.  
>"Okay, we're finished here, Jason hurry up and regroup at the lobby, were hitting the peak in less than 1 hour, pelican flights are dropping off our support so we better not miss our chance."<p>

The team flashed green on his HUD and he left the desk, Tara was still present in the room and said.  
>"So I guess this is it? You're going off to save the world?"<p>

"No I'm going off to kill some flood and then save the galaxy from a parasitic alien while trying to uncover the secret behind an ancient alien threat that now is almost upon us all." He smiled at her.

The asari held her hand out and he took it with a warm shake.  
>"Good luck Tara, I hope you have a better career somewhere else."<p>

She smiled and said.  
>"Who knows?"<p>

The Spartan took his team and linked with the technician down at the lobby, the people departed from the port in droves. The team arrived back at the lower level and found themselves in the presence of the flood once more, Uri waited on a wall smiling.  
><strong>"So it seems that you have found your answer?"<strong>

"There's a facility about 30ks from here, you know anything about it?" Joseph asked.

"**Oh, that place, well I do know that the region is the most heavily contested, the flood have been wrung from my control there by another flood overmind, but this one seems different, it's unlike the other overminds, it's more like something closer to a familiar variation, but this one knows who I am."** He shivered.

"Wait so that means, that flood mind is from Warden?" Joseph said in mute confusion.

"**Looks like it, but that's the problem, the Warden overminds are usually linked to the forerunners in some way shape or form, I have a close idea as to what they maybe planning, however I intend to stop them in my own fashion. The reapers on the other hand I shall bide my time with. Are you sure that wouldn't like to join us?"** Uri asked.

The Spartan knew that his former brother had still deeper plans in wait, but he had no intentions of giving his humanity away like that, not unless he had no choice.  
>"Sorry Uri, but you know me, stubborn to the end."<p>

A croak and chuckle came from the former Spartan; it seemed that Uri still had something in his mind. **"Ah brother, it seems that you are right, you are stubborn, but don't let that stubbornness be the end of you."** He warned.

The corrupted left in a flash; their presence was still being felt by them all but it seemed to relax a bit. Rana eyed her ally carefully and asked.  
>"What does he mean by your stubbornness?"<p>

The Spartan looked down and replied.  
>"Nothing, it was just something that happened a long time ago, now if you don't mind. Our backup is waiting."<p>

The Spartan walked on and down the stairs with the marines, Jason hung back a moment and said to Rana.  
>"There's a lot you don't know about Joseph, and trust me, you don't want to know him more than we already do."<p>

Rana hadn't the chance to ask what Jason had said before he followed after his squad.

XXXXX

The squad entered into the garage once more and headed to their transports, the warthogs outside were replaced by something rather flashy and big. They couldn't imagine what the Spartan had done to call in this thing, but who cared? They had a cougar Assault APC. The large armoured transport held a marine space of 18, and it had 2 drivers and 1 gunner. The transport was definitely enough for the mission at hand.

"Shotgun!" 1st class Private Josh yelled.

Jason got into the driver's seat and was followed up by Joseph next to him; Rana took up her position in the rear and was eyeing the gunner seat where the marine corporal took his position. The inside of the APC was clean metal, the grated floor was nice and the seats had cushioned crash braces, everything about the APC was pretty good.

Monitors on the inside and a mounted gun at the doors, there was also a drink dispenser and a wall pack of medical gear. Ammo and weapons lockers were located under the seats, there were also a few extra suits for combat and a number of handy tools that the marines needed in the missions, Rana helped herself to the rations inside the APC. The rations that the APC had been not as bad as when she was stuck on the human's frigate in transport, the meals there were horrible.

Once they buckled themselves in, Jason let the engines heat up and he kicked the cougar into gear, the APC drove away from the port and to their objective, along the way the lieutenant made sure to keep his eyes levelled with the sensor net, he'd tell if they'd run into anything along the way. As they travelled they noticed that the other UCAF marines in the region were grouping with them along the way.

"This is Silver Steel to Strike Actual; we're linking up at the outskirts to priority objective." The marine Sgt reported to Joseph.

"I hear you Silver Steel. Be advised enemy hostiles in the region, prepare for heavy contact, any armour support?" He asked.

"None sir, aside from a few APC we have no heavy armour." The Sgt replied.

Joseph knew that this wasn't going to be fun. His thoughts were interrupted when the sensors went red, the APC banked to the right as a cluster of laser blasts ripped over them, Jason shouted.  
>"Hostiles dead ahead, gunner, get them."<p>

The turret opened up with the heavy GC72 the dual barrelled heavy gauss gun fired in response with machine gun fire as well as gauss shells, the deadly assault blew chunks out of their enemies. From afar Joseph could just make out their silhouettes, humanoid bodies; he zoomed in with scanners until they came into focus. Their enemies were not human, but they were surely not any known race he had ever seen before, they had a single eye and had a few fingers, but what defined them was that they were machines.

The coms blared from the marines.  
>"Contact in approach vector, we are breaking off to engage, Lt you're on your own for now."<p>

Joseph hated when luck decided to abandon him. The APC drove through the enemy blockade and down the road with the gunner still firing, their shields had taken light blasts but not enough to cripple them, he noted that the hostiles were firing some sort of energy based round, but that was impossible, the council hadn't even touched on the UCAF tech, how did these beings differ?

The APC arrived at a tunnel and drove right into it, they encountered a few stragglers and dealt with them rather quickly, continuing on the APC headed out the other end and was clear in the open when an enemy drop ship arrived. The gauss guns tore the ship to pieces, but not before it dropped what it needed to.

The cougar came up to face with a large 4 legged walker; it was much like the other things but had a mounted gun underneath its glowing eye. The machine charged a shot and fired, Jason banked hard to avoid the incoming blast, but sadly their speed wasn't enough as the blast impacted their shields, the vision of the APC blurred as the charged shot fizzled from the APC.

"What the hell?" The gunner yelled.

The tank had just taken a direct hit from an energy based weapon and that meant a plasma blast, their tank had been hit by plasma, the bastards had plasma based guns? Joseph yelled.  
>"Jason, get us around that walker."<p>

The marine complied and drove the tank around hard, their speed accelerating and crushing a few of the machines along the way, once around the enemy walker the gunner unleashed hell of the slow walker. The guns took a bit to rip the machine open, but after one smoking hole in the torso shot came through, the walker dropped dead and exploded.

Joseph contacted.  
>"Silver, be aware, there's walkers over the area."<p>

The marine replied annoyed.  
>"We figured sir, we're already engaged with 4 of them, and we might take some time to join you at the primary objective, head on if we can't make it!"<p>

The Spartan closed the line and ordered.  
>"Fine, we're going on ahead, Jason keep going, if we run into anything else, just keep going."<p>

The marine nodded and pressed on, the APC drove onwards as the battle for the planet continued, they were still a fair way off from the Peak 15 complex, but that didn't mean that they couldn't reach it, as they broke through the other hostile barricades and road blocks they came upon the last stretch into the valley. From here it should have been pretty simple, sadly that wasn't the case.

The APC paused at the top of the cliff overlooking the valley, there they found their biggest problem, the gunner commented.  
>"Holy shit!"<p>

The valley was packed with more than the visage of a nice snowy mountain top at the end with waterfalls, the valley was packed with what were about 2 dozen walkers and a few hundred enemy hostiles, the marines weren't going to cut through this any time soon. But what really made them pause was that there was their reaper, the 25m tall machine with about a dozen legs, it had a single glowing eye and was about as deadly as a super scarab.

"You have got to be shitting me." Jason swore loudly.

"Well how do we get around that?" Rana exclaimed.

Joseph thought over their situation, an army with a super walker was now standing in between them and their objective and there was little support from the UCAF fleet, and the marines were trapped behind them trying to catch up, this was one of the situations everyone would call FUBAR. Joseph was trying to contemplate their position; the reaper was in front of them with a veritable army, the Spartan knew that even he couldn't punch through all of this without any help.

Of course help does arrive in small packages, from his position Joseph watched as his IFF lit up, the skies above the valley were suddenly alight.  
>"Incoming friendlies." Jason yelled.<p>

From above their position the skies were lit from the hundreds of slip-space rifts being opened at once, from the rifts massive purple and silver ships arrived, one cruiser hovered over the valley and unleashed a number of drop pods and gunships. The vehicles rained fire on the hostiles below in the valley. A transmission came over their com lines.

"Hold fast humans, we have come." The voice of a wise warrior stated.

The purple gunships of the covenant forces had arrived en masse, they dropped their troops off while others fired on the reaper avatar. The most distinguishable gunship from the swarm was the silver and blue one with an escort of 6 banshees. The gunship's IFF was that of the legend himself.  
>"This is Arbiter Vadam, all forces engage these abominations and drive them to their damned graves!"<p>

The covenant forces rushed onwards to the reapers own forces and engaged in a bloody free for all, the area was suddenly filled with gunfire; the marines were absently shocked at the sudden appearance of the covenant in the attack against the flood on the world of Noveria. This had been an unexpected turn of events.

The Jason commented.  
>"Well that solves one problem."<p>

The reaper in the valley reared its head and began to fire at the covenant gunships; the heated laser beam ripped through two gunships and clipped another. The covenant responded in volume with a number of plasma cannons at the reaper walker, their shots pelted the reaper but it didn't cripple the massive machine, the thing was as large as a super scarab it made sense that it wouldn't be easy to destroy.

Joseph got a call from the Arbiter.  
>"Spartan, you must hurry to disable the reaper, or we'll all fall!"<p>

Joseph nodded.  
>"Roger that, any idea where the weak spot is on that thing?" He asked.<p>

The Arbiter replied.  
>"Our scans indicate that the power source is located at the centre of the machine, it is about 2 levels inside the machine. You must board the machine and then manually disable it, but be warned there is something different about this creature."<p>

"I noticed." Joseph remembered the psychic screams of the last reaper.

He motioned for his team to get back in the APC. He called over the coms.  
>"We're going in; all UCAF personnel engage the reaper and follow us in!"<p>

There was a chorus of replies and Joseph knew that they were ready to get going. Joseph mounted the main guns from the outside to get a better shot at the reaper, and if he needed to board such a machine at least he'd have the ability to do so without having to jump out of the APC and then boarding. The cougar ran about and went downhill, they passed a dozen contacts along the way blowing them to pieces as they headed to the reaper.

The UCAF marines were engaged over the length of the area fighting the reaper's forces while closing the distance to the reaper walker in the valley, the only reason that they hadn't just MAC blasted the massive machine was because of the explosive force of the MAC would shatter the ground and destroy the facility nearby. They had to recover whatever the turians had been testing not accidently wipe out all the vital information and leave themselves empty handed.

There was also the factor of the council which had been desperate to avoid being pinned for the blame of Noveria and the war, the council was always trying to keep its hands clean of taking anything that would make them look bad, and of course they'd use their spectres in any case or scenario. So destroying anything critical would be seriously counterproductive and thus the UCAF wasn't willing on losing any chance to recover anything that would be necessary against the council's pet soldiers.

Joseph watched as they closed the distance to the reaper, the covenant phantoms would keep the machine from turning them to scrap while they dealt with the ground troops and disable the enemy walker. Joseph let loose a few shots at the walkers along the way, thankfully the other convoys dealt with the walkers.

The cougar passed another cluster of troops and Joseph let loose another shot and splattered them where they stood. The battle was fast paced, but not challenging, at least not unless you were on the wrong side of the reaper. Joseph brought his guns on the legs of the reaper and began to chew through the heavy chitin like plating, the reaper noticed the APC and its efforts and attempted to turn around, it was slightly faster than that of a scarab, but not enough to out manoeuvre a cougar.

"Arbiter, we need you to blind the sensors on that bastard, we'll hit the legs while you do that. We might be able to board it then." Joseph suggested.

"Very well, we shall, be ready." The Arbiter replied.

The two forces began to hammer the reaper, the covenant gunships dropped in and landed a few wraiths and let the mortars launch some plasma blasts on the reaper, the combined efforts slowly withered away at the reapers armour and shielding. Joseph's team was shortly joined by 3 warthogs; they split up and fired on multiple vectors.

The reaper began to change tactics, it began to stomp down as fast as it could against the offending insects, it was difficult with the covenant firing on it in waves of plasma, but it was better than letting the humans find its core. Joseph corrected the change and alerted Jason to follow closely wherever the reaper wasn't about to crush them.

Joseph's shots ruptured a leg and sent explosions across one of the limbs sending the machine staggering to one side, the other leg on the other side was dealt with in the same manner by the wraiths which fired in concentrated blasts and turned the leg to slag. The massive walker staggered and collapsed to the ground, it tried getting up, but like a wounded predator the machine wouldn't be able to rise until it healed itself.

Joseph and the Arbiter took their chances then, Joseph yelled over the coms.  
>"Time to get going!"<p>

Jason, pulled the APC alongside the reaper and close enough to find a place for Joseph to jump off of and get aboard the machine, the Arbiter did the same and jumped from his gunship and landed on the hull of the reaper with a team of rangers. The Spartan caught up with the Arbiter at the centre of the reaper and met him there.

It had been well known that the Spartans had gained the respect of the elites during the war, especially the UCAF Spartans who had fought the covenant to the bitter end, the same was for the Spartans who saw the marital honour of the elites, they trusted each other during a fight, and that was for sure. As they met the Arbiter greeted him with a ceremonious bow.

"Good to see that there are still warriors of your calibre young one." He greeted.

"Same to you Arbiter, however our focus should be on the reaper right now, I'm sure we'll have a proper meeting once we have concluded our business here on Noveria." He replied.

"Very well, we must enter through this section of the abomination, I shall gut through the plating, be prepared to jump in, we do not know what awaits us inside so be vigil." He advised Joseph.

Joseph nodded and the Arbiter hacked open a clean cut with his new energy glaive, the spear was an addition created by the UCAF during the cease fire and it was a welcome addition to the covenant's armoury. The Arbiter himself looked much more deadlier, and much more formal, his armour had been repaired and polished, but had been added with white pauldrons with a fixed plate on his face to accommodate as a mask for heavy combat, the chest piece looked much more refined as it had a heavy plating along with an impressive crafting much like that of the Hayabusa class.

The Spartan jumped down with his AR and was followed by the elites, they found themselves in the core of the machine, it was a dead drop about 5 meters, but where they were was a completely different story, there was about 25 meters in all direction which had been cleared and the floor was as if it was alive. The glowing metal seemed to emanate a deathly feeling, as if it reeked of poison.

The core was like a massive rib cage packed with muscles, but missing the organs aside from the heart, the core itself was large it was circular and was the shape of a orb, but the size suggested about the size of a water tank. It glowed luminescent blue and white and irradiated a pulse of energy enough that Joseph's scanners were going off the scale.

"I guess that's it." Joseph commented.

He aimed and fired into the heart, however when he did so, something happened.  
><strong>"YOU SHALL NOT TAKE ME!"<strong>

The psychic scream pulled into his mind and strained his neural interface, his head was boiling, Joseph collapsed to the ground and heard the screaming voice, it was fuming at him, and it was after him. It was out to kill him, his vision blurred and soon he heard the elites shouting.  
>"Here they come, brothers!"<p>

Joseph saw nothing what the elites could see, he was soon in another place, a plain of darkness surrounded by emptiness much like that of space, he could see the core of the reaper, it wasn't like that of what was in the physical plane, it was a sphere which was held in a twist of tentacles much like of vines, it glowed a deep green and seemed to burn into his head.

But what came next frightened and shocked him. A woman stood there, her face hidden as she looked away, but she seemed familiar. She turned about as he approached her and she smiled and said.  
>"Welcome back son…"<p>

XXXXX

(Oh CRAP, we have some serious dead space following event now. Oh well bound to happen right?)

So I need to ask.

What was wrong with Dragon Age 2?

I mean I didn't entirely disapprove but I'd like your opinion on it and I'd like your idea if we should include a few themes from Dragon Age!

Also should we have Hawke in this story? Yes or No?

Oh and there's a special little treat for you guys, Silent Hill surprise.

(BREAKING THE WALL)

If you were guided to the corner of the Noveria Storage facility you would have found a puzzle, on the wall there were 8 markings, each with a specific mythical animal, you need to locate each animal and hit their symbol in the right order. Pegasus, Unicorn, Alicorn, Manticore, Alicorn, Unicorn, Hydra, and then Pegasus and then Manticore, and then finally Pegasus

This will open up the wall where the puzzle starts now head there and you'll find out the prize.

Joseph opened up the all and found himself staring into a large room with what looked like a dozen monitors, he and the team located a person who was busy typing at a console, he said.  
>"What the hell?"<p>

The young man jumped back with his Spartan helmet on and yelped.  
>"Damn it you nearly scared me to death, what are you doing here beyond the 4th wall?"<p>

"We should be asking you what the hell you're doing here; there aren't any humans on Noveria." He commented.

"Ah yes well, I'm the author of this universe, sorry about that, I guess you figured out the puzzle, I should say welcome but I'm kind of busy, so if you don't mind, how about a special surprise." He hit a button.

A blue pony with wings and a horn popped up and smiled.  
>"Hello, can I give you a hug?" She asked shyly.<p>

Joseph stared at the pony and then grasped his chest.  
>"HNGNGNGNGNG…"<p>

Rana commented.  
>"Well that was anti-climactic…"<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

CH15

XXXXX

The Beginning to the End

XXXXX

This is the compiled records of the Citadel Council recorded by Kurren Tarvis, senior security officer for the Citadel Council –UCAF- Date: 2550-2560. I have caught all records of these events in order as the war had progressed, I am sorry to say that some gaps remain, however the records that have been preserved shed significant light on the situation that the council had found itself within during the first contact war.

2555-2-15

The first days of the war had come and gone and the council was still reeling from the first contact with the race now identified as the humans, the discovery was shocking to say the least, when the turian hierarchy reported an incident at Relay 314, they assumed that the incident was focused around a rogue bunch of pirates or vagrants making a quick credit from illegal runs.

But when the news hit the turians news network it flooded into the rest of the council networks like wild fire, the whole region had been contained after the incident and the council had suddenly gone into discussion about what move that they should make. The three councillors of course were incapable of coming up to a proper agreement.

"The humans are still a new race; why else would we have yet to discover them? Surely a race with such primitive vessels of titanium and basic metals shouldn't be considered that advanced." The turian councillor Valern suggested.

"Yes, but from what the turian reports indicated they only came up against one enemy cruiser which happened to be very well armed, it was just one, but it decimated over 5 turian frigates and 2 cruisers, even if they had not the advanced materials of the galaxy, they surely possess the military and technological weaponry to challenge that of any council race." Tevos replied.

"I agree, this situation cannot be overlooked, this is a serious matter Valern, the humans are too much a military power to just ignore, no matter how primitive they maybe." Maelon commented.

"Then might I be regretful informing you that the hierarchy is planning on sending a force of ships beyond the 314 relay without the observation of the council?" Valern retorted.

"What?" Tevos exclaimed.

"The hierarchy has decided that in the case of a hostile first contact, the hierarchy would deal with matters until a resolution can be discovered, and if that the hostile force does not comply the turian hierarchy would continue to pursue this force until it is dealt with?" Valern added.

Maelon shouted.  
>"This is ridiculous, the reason for the council is to regulate order amongst the populace of the galaxy and ensure the stability of all races, not enforce blind regulations!"<p>

"Ironic that we are doing so every other day?" Valern countered.

"Those do not weigh the judgement upon races such as the lives of possibly billions Valern, the humans have yet to prove a greater threat, and how do we know of what started the incident? The hierarchy has failed to prove anything, only bits of recordings and a few pictures have all been handed, how do we know that the hierarchy is proving that this incident wasn't caused by it?" Maelon threatened.

"The hierarchy has nothing to hide Maelon and you know it, we do what the rest of the council races cannot do to ensure that the rest of the galaxy lives in peace a little while longer, we enforce the law and we are part of the law." Valern stated clearly.

The chamber fell into a dead silence. This was the council's first argument and the last time that Valern held the hierarchy for their mistake.

2555-3-10

The council convened in full once more, this was to reconvene about the contact on the human colony near the relay, their fears had been confirmed once they heard about the counter offensive which had wiped out the turian fleet and had wreaked havoc upon the turian forces on the attack. The humans had employed a suicidal tactic of dropping their troops in from orbit and sending them down to attack the turian forces.

The result of the battle was a systematic slaughter of the entire turian force on the planet and the withdrawal of the turians from the world.

"So it's been confirmed by the analysts?" The salarian councillor asked to the other members of the council.

They all looked ragged and rather tired, but that was the point of the council, the ability to hold themselves in rather sleepless times. The situation was that the loss of the turians fleet over the human colony had shook the very foundations of the council, this was the first time in a very long time that someone had fended off an entire turian fleet with a few ships no bigger than cruisers, but the humans had.

"The statistics show that if the human vessels were as powerful as it was mentioned in the initial contact report, then we'd be facing a loss of every vessel for 3:1 going their way. We'd run out of ships faster than we could ever make them, and that's if we have pilots and crew capable of doing so." The asari councillor added.

"So now it's come down to this? You two have lost hope that the hierarchy was capable of winning this even when you voiced your doubts and then when it happens you're both disheartened by the loss and all you can do now is agree that we have lost?" Valern said angrily.

"Valern, there is no hope of a possible victory against the humans at large, because of the 2 main factors that are currently present. The humans possess much larger ships with advanced technologies, which I do like to remind you that we do not possess energy shields; I do not see our forces having the necessary firepower to disable these shields in short time. And secondly is that our forces do not know how large their race is, or what they possess that is so much different than ours, if we do not know who we are attempting to fight, then how can we win?"

"And might I remind you Maelon that I have no doubt that we would come across either information over time? The humans may be secretive about their homes, but I do not doubt that they can stay hidden forever, we shall locate them soon enough. And I'm determined not to allow the council in over 1000 years to admit defeat to a new race."

2555-4-15

Over 2 weeks since the defeat at the border conflict and the destruction of Shanxi, the council was in turmoil, reports of the UCAF now converging outside the borders of the council's held space was almost tremendous, however the council had tried to dismiss that the war was being lost and that the humans were only a minor threat. But it would end on this day…

An asari reporter shouted over the high pitched whines of explosives and loud earth shaking detonations, she was in full personal body armour and cowering behind a desk as she attempted to report to the rest of the galaxy.  
>"We do not know how much time is left on our network buoy before it gets destroyed, however we shall resume communication as long as we can. The first colonies have been hit by the humans in a display of immense firepower; there have been reports as far as the borders of the traverse to the middle that the humans have indeed launched a massive counter offensive. Their push has decimated council forces and even masses of mercenary fleets, no reports have come back from them since and we suspect that all have been destroyed."<p>

A shell detonated nearby and she kept reporting.  
>"Council members before the attack suggested that the humans may have been open for communications however this reporter believes that there is almost no hope now, the war here has just been lost."<p>

A kick to the doorway nearby and the asari screams as the UCAF marines shoot at the studio.

XXXXX

2555-6-11

The council's reports from the front about the humans contact with their flood project, the council was definitely nervous, the humans had discovered their bio weapons projects and had destroyed them when they located them. They had also sent a warning about not diving any deeper, but their turian spectre, their best one, Saren Arterius had taken the samples to a Noveria complex to ensure that no future failures could occur.

There was also the pressing matter that the UCAF knew about an incident in Matano involving an asari science team, the UCAF had orders to capture individuals of immense importance, and Liara T'soni being the daughter of matriarch Benezia was definitely valid. The humans had returned her and her colleagues to the council after the event.

"Liara, so there is no records indicated by the humans that they intend to pursue the council borders than what has already been captured?" Tevos asked in surprise.

"None that I can see, the desires of the UCAF is to hold their own homes from danger, their body language as harsh it might be is very open to interpretation and with the humans on the front lines, it is clear that they don't intend on going out of their way to assault the council inner colonies in the coming time. They are more reserved to simply waiting for the council to exhaust resources and support and then broker a truce." Liara explained.

Valern looked at the human literature that had been given by the one named Lieutenant Shepard.  
>"Bah, the humans may have struggled in their past war, which may have made them weary, but they do know how to lie. Can you honestly believe this book of theirs? Their allies used to be their enemies, and now they choose to aid them against us? That's preposterous… but I do see some honour from the one you call Shepard. Is it possible to contact the UCAF and see if a message can be sent between you two?" Valern asked.<p>

"No, there's no way for me to contact him again, they said he's been sent off into the Voyager and Kepler borders to investigate into a number of attacks by the batarians and the collectors." She answered.

"Ah yes, the collectors, the more advanced race of sentient beings who go around harvesting colonies for sick bio engineering experiments. We have already dismissed them from the past records; they have no relevance in the matters at hand." Valern summarised.

"Well however this development is rather relevant, the humans may not be seeking to eliminate all life, which means that there is hope to recover and a chance to improve our situation Valern." Maelon suggested.

"How so?" The turian asked.

2555-12-24

A package from the humans arrive from the first colonies on the eve of a cease fire, the UCAF sent a message from their HIGH COM telling of a single 24 hour break in the fighting to retrieve the dead and wounded and to then wait till after the celebrations for their people have ended to continue the fighting.

Councillors had been rather perplexed by the sudden change in attitude, the humans had shown absolutely no remorse in hacking and killing the hundreds of thousands of their forces and yet the UCAF wants to take a single day off the war to rest? This was the most peculiar event by far and that was saying something.

"How do we know that the package the humans have sent isn't poisoned or gassed or altered to harm everything in range of it?" Valern asked eyeing the box.

"Because security has opened the crate, and they have done bio tests, aside from the package being an amino based product which you might not be able to enjoy, the package is absolutely harmless and security has tasted it." Tevos replied candidly.

The humans had sent a large hamper called a Christmas dinner in a box, the UCAF had wanted to save the day for a moment just to relax from the fighting, packages likes these were being sent in over 200 different forms. It was meant as a meaning for grateful peace amongst all sentient beings, besides a lot of people needed the break.

"Well I do think that tradition could grow well on us all." Maelon thought out loud.

XXXXX

Timeline- 2556-8

May-

The UCAF begins to solidify outer systems defences across all captured systems; the turians desperately attempt to break the deadlock as they try to reach captured worlds. The asari and salarian factions of the council attempt a new project of advanced biotics to be developed in order to challenge the UCAF marines, the project is taken under way. However due to significant losses the project is called into doubt.

"How can anyone have seen this idea as anything but smart?" Valern hissed when he looked at the details of the project.

"This requires veterans of over 200 hours of combat experience and certain members of each race with specific implications to join, how can we honestly hope that this would yield results?" Valern asked his fellow councillors.

"It wasn't meant to Valern, the project was to stall the humans from advancing any further by creation a biotic pulse which would act much like that of an EMP, hopefully wipe the humans technology out of the image." Maelon said as he ran over the details again.

"This has been a failure, there's no hope that it would work in a long term solution." Tevos stated as she looked at the contact reports.

All 400 counted battles had resulted in defeat and loss; the council had gained absolutely no ground even with the biotic project in full swing. It was essentially hitting a wall with a stick. The council concluded that the project would have to be disbanded.

August-

The council race project: Acclimation and Endurance, fails within less than pleasant results, the main facility is destroyed on the colony planet of Trident, council forces attempt to reform another project to counter the UCAF however due to economic overtures the whole of council space become daunted with the task of paying the billions of credits.

Mysterious interventions from the collectors within the Terminus systems increase significantly, dozens more worlds are hit by their attacks and more offers are made. The council forces send out infiltrators to learn what had been occurring within the Terminus systems.

The council to the public states.  
>"The actions of the mysterious Collectors is nothing but an exaggeration on behalf of the Terminus Systems, they themselves are in constant tensions amongst one another and grossly over-exaggerate the pirates abilities in certain regions."<p>

Aria T'loak attempt to force the remaining mercenary bands to remain on Omega, however recent attacks had begun to stagnate support and morale. Mercenary guilds refuse to accept terms of the head of Omega.

December

The UCAF celebrates its second new year by sending gifts of simple design to the council on the citadel. The UNSC begins reconstruction on Reach and the main colonies; the New Covenant joins the UCAF on Callistan to begin new plans for the war in the coming year.

The council was now in trouble. The news reports from a asari journalist who had happened to enter into the UCAF regions without being shot had managed to open communications with the UCAF and learned about the covenant.  
>"The reports of the UCAFs allies, the New Covenant have now sworn in to aid the UCAF to push against the council forces and hopefully end the war in coming time, Lord Arbiter of the covenant forces. Thel Vadam has this to say."<p>

"We were hated as destroyers, now we are welcomed as brothers, we shall stand with the humans until our dying breaths, for no amount of blood can repay for what we had done to them in the past." Vadam announced.

In the council chambers, Valern, Maelon, and Tevos were both absently looking at the reports from the journalist, the covenant had a much larger military and were about to join the conflict. This had have to have been the worst thing to have happened, no longer was it just one race, but now 8. The council had called and emergency meeting to discuss the issue at hand.

2557

March

The Voyager systems are fully and completely controlled, a number of resource worlds fall to the control of the UCAF and soon corporate alliances are desperate in demand from the UCAF to give them back control to these vital facilities required to feed the council space. The UCAF diverges on ideas and options prompting a UCAF Board meeting.

June

Omega is reinforced by hundreds of ships as Aria T'loak now has no option but to begin a structured organisation of government or risk a full station rebellion. The Mercenary guilds are accepted as law enforcers and Omega becomes a governmental centre point in order to avoid utter anarchy.

Turians and Salarian scientist offer the krogan clans on Tuchunka a means of cure from the genophage, many races are sceptical the krogans would even accept such an offer as to the reasons, but many clans agree to try and obtain the cure, but the offer was that the clans were to fight the UCAF and their allies on the front lines in order to access the cure. Warlord Urdnot Wrex and dozens of other clans believe that the offer was far too good to be true and even then, they were being used as tools once more.

Batarians on the main war zone begin use of nuclear arms, however they are met with stiff resistance by the council and many races as to the last disastrous event that drove the alliance spearhead in the first place. However the Batarian council ignores the Citadel council's advisement and begins the war a new within the borders.

September

UCAF forces use Nova bombs to wipe out 12 planets and destroy 3 systems as well as attack the main industrial systems of the batarians, the UCAF then demands that the Batarian Homogeny surrender or face destruction for their indiscriminate use of nuclear arms. The batarians are then quarantined on their homeworld with many of their planets being taken away.

The council couldn't believe the reports when they came in, over 700,000 Batarians had died in the attack, the UCAF had proven that they were willing to use the most devastating pieces of weaponry should they be given no choice. The war had come to a vicious end for the batarians, but it was better than being completely annihilated by the UCAF, their world would remain under watch and wait until the end of the war.

Recorded at council emergency convention in the aftermath of the Nova bombs:  
>The council was alone, only them and 6 members of the C-sec personnel were present to keep their eyes on all entrances and exits. The councillors were in deep discussion as to the situation that had unfolded within the past week.<p>

"Is it true? The batarians are falling back from UCAF space?" Valern asked.

"It is, from the reports that had come in, the UCAF had used a powerful super weapon, the UCAF state that it is a micro super nova contained within a bomb. It was detonated in Batarian space, and was followed by other strikes. The batarians claim that their worlds are now beyond recovery and their forces scattered in fear at the dangers now present by the UCAF." He was nervous as he finished his statement.

"Do you believe that the humans would use this weapon on us?" Maelon asked.

"It's hard to determine, they'd have used it by now surely, but the batarians had fired nuclear based weapons upon their forces for some time, so maybe they may use it as a deterrent. If so, then we may not be so far behind." Valern concluded.

"Agreed, I believe that if this is the case, I suggest a solution, one that might end this war. However it may result in a number of issues, it would be better to end this soon." Tevos suggested.

XXXXX

Krogan clans become desperate, and some accept the terms of the turian hierarchy, those who accepted are marked as the weak fools who set to destroy themselves in blind stupidity of their breed rather than their honour. The 12 clans of the main opposition remain on Tuchunka and wait for their brethren to make their move.

Omega hits the highest population count since it first became active, 4 more asteroids of significant size had to be moved with hundreds of sprawling junk stations and mining operations to supply goods and resources necessary to keep up with demand.

Collector attacks dim in the aftermath of the earlier slaughter of many planets. It is unknown why they had been so aggressive. The council further ignore the warning signs as a bunch of advanced pirates going around and taking colonies for slavers.

2558

March- [THE END]

The citadel stood out amongst the stars as it usually did, in this mist like nebula the station stood proudly in these troubled times, the war and the constant defeats and now the internal civilian struggle pleading for the council to end the war. Many races had been drawn between ending the war and continuing it, but for the pro war activists they were outspoken by the population in grieving for the heavy losses for many families.

The council however had tried to keep face amongst it all, the last reports filtered in and soon closed, the day was coming to an end, in more ways than one. Their chambers which had once been pristine and empty of most occasions was now packed with hundreds of diplomats and speakers for many institutes and corporations, it was a mess.

From outside the council chambers there came a noticeable change for the citadel traffic towers.  
>"Sensor grids 233-451-445 have become active, can anyone confirm?" An asari operator asked.<p>

A patrol of council fighters headed off to the coordinates and replied.  
>"Confirmed, no signs of any-. Wait, I see something, 3 swirling lights, there's something… Oh Spirits!"<p>

The pilot banked his fighter from the sudden appearance of a UCAF super cruiser, the 25km ship was shortly followed by over a dozen other ships all of varying sizes and different factions. A covenant super cruiser also appeared with over a dozen other ships. The void had been suddenly packed with a number of UCAF and covenant ships.

The Citadel tower went into alert.  
>"All ships to combat status 1, we have confirmation of the UCAF and Covenant forces, alert all troops to their stations, public alert status to level 3 begin lockdown of civilian sectors."<p>

The citadel went to full alert with the fleet going off to engage the UCAF and covenant vessels, the council fleet presently in reach of the citadel was over 60 ships many being cruisers and dreadnoughts, the asari still had the Destiny Ascension as well as over a dozen new dreadnoughts out for show. The fleet converged upon the human and covenant fleet and faced them off in a standard defensive pattern.

The council forces waited until a communication came through.  
>"I am captain James Vance of the UCAF Few and None, I have come here on behalf of the UCAF HIGH command and for the UCAF military government, along with me are the representatives of the covenant, we are here to discuss a terms for the end of the war. We are here for peace."<p>

XXXXX

The council was holding its breath when the transmission came through, they expected the UCAF to just go in and slaughter them without a second thought, but amazingly it seemed that the UCAF had instead come to ask for a cease fire and a meeting. It was welcoming that they finally had a proper meeting with their so called enemy face to face; the only people who had seen the UCAF were those who were engaged with them on the front lines and from a few captured POWs and reports in passing but their enemy had remained as elusive since the beginning of the war.

The UCAF had widely remained hidden behind the 314 relay for over 3 years the communications now meant that the council could stop the war and finally take a breather, especially since how many casualties that they had taken were quite serious. The council permitted the UCAF representatives to meet with them on the main presidium within an hour, they needed to prepare for the meeting and address the rest of the citadel about the situation.

After their preparations were complete they waited for the UCAF to drop off their representatives at the landing zone near the presidium and head over to their location. The UCAF gunship was escorted in by 2 fighters and landed on the largest landing pad available, the UCAF shuttle was not a shuttle but a large gunship easily the size of more than that of a frigate, it dropped down on its vertical engines and opened on the landing bay.

Sadly the larger bays were on the lower levels of the presidium and thus it would be a longer walk, and it would be in a very surly walk, the lower levels were less than up to the standards of high political visage, the council honestly thought that the humans were doing it on purpose to get themselves mobbed by the lower level inhabitants. But with a guard of 8 marines and 2 of the rumoured super augmented soldiers of the UCAF it was doubtful that anyone attempting to attack the UCAF personnel would have severe difficulty in doing so.

James and his android aide Sera were heading through the lower levels; it was still another block before they reached the mid wards of the citadel, their trip through the lower wards were not as eye opening as they believed, the shops and communities were rather familiar, 21st century feel of the humans race and its constant segregation of different ethnicities, it seemed that the cultural clashes of many different beliefs didn't seem to attack each other as seriously as the human race's though.

The delegation arrived at the mid-level about a few minutes later; they exited a lift into a busy ward where they were suddenly mobbed by a crowd of people. James could see many of them holding out signs and protests against the UCAF and dozens of other chanting words of hate for the humans, many of the other races disliked the UCAF with a fear, because of what the UCAF had done, and for what the UCAF represented. Power that could not be controlled, power held in the hands of those who saw no need for the council and abided by their own rights. But power used for change given to those who wanted change.

The council races hated the thoughts of change, change brought with it pain and that pain would shake them from their selfish beliefs that nothing could and would harm them. Their hedonistic way of life and self-indulgence was all that they wanted to keep. Because it was comfortable for them and only them, that's what they wanted. But the UCAF had now broken this visage of peace and had given them the bitter reality of something so vulgar that they didn't want it no matter how much more it would benefit them.

Only those in the Terminus systems and those who have seen the brutality of the greater galaxy understood the situation of the UCAF and understood why the council was acting so. The UCAF would have their way, the council couldn't afford to deny it any longer, and they knew that. They were desperate to end the war and make themselves look good and then enjoy the rewards of another race brought into their ridiculous ideals.

The UCAF would not grant them a damn one of these compromises, the HIGH COM and the covenant had agreed, the council was indulging itself more than it knew it should be, this false peace would not last forever and they knew that, but they wanted to last, even if it was arrogant or ignorant on their behalf. The UCAF didn't care and James didn't care, he was here to make the demands of the UCAF and end it there, the council would take the bitterness of the situation and attempt to wrestle control from the UCAF in order to make sure they end up with at least a better deal without many losses.

When James passed through the crowd to the level of the Presidium the team was then surrounded by hundreds of cameras and reporters. The team shrugged them off until the C-sec teams held them from harassing the UCAF members. The team spent the next hour walking around the presidium until the council decided to let the group up to the tower.

Upon arriving at the council chambers the delegation was confronted by a tower packed with many officials and reporters from the galaxy at large. The many representatives wanted to see the end of the war and that was going to happen with the UCAF on this day.  
>The captain arrived in the interior of the tower, he could see the council, upon their podiums, they stood upright and prepared for the UCAF rep to give the demands of the UCAF to the council and debate a compromise, he'd give them the UCAFs compromise, but it wouldn't be as they'd like, well life's hard and they were going to learn that on this day.<p>

He took his position from across the council at the end of the dais where the many eyes tracked him, the marines dispersed from him and took up their positions around each corner scanning for any possible threats. The Spartans did the same and Sera took her position next to James. The asari began with the introductions.  
>"This meeting of the council is now in session, UCAF representative, Captain James Vance, we welcome you cordially to the citadel, and we do hope that you have found the citadel a welcome sight."<p>

"You mean aside from the lower slums of the wards of the citadel? And the fact that fears bubbles upon the surface of the council races towards the humans and the covenant factions? I have found nothing wrong with what I have seen councillor." The young captain replied.

The asari councillor could see that the humans knew well of the flaws of the council, it wasn't an ingenious method of dealing with the elites and the less wealthy but that was how most the galaxy ran wasn't it? The asari recomposed herself and said.  
>"We are the councillors for the council controlled regions of the galaxy, I am Asari Republic's councillor Tevos, and this is Councillor Maelon of the salarian Coalition and the turian Hierarchy Councillor Valern."<p>

"Yes I see, greetings to you all, I do hope our introduction didn't startle you…" James eyed the turian carefully.

"None at all, we suspected that you would eventually find your way to us, and with that we are grateful that nothing had gone wrong." The turian replied with venom under his tone.

Tevos kicked them back into focus.  
>"Now captain Vance, you have come on behalf of the UCAF and the human race in order to discuss the terms of the cease fire and closure of the war?"<p>

"Ah yes, the terms of the UCAF are numerous, however it was agreed by the UCAF council and senate that a single list of demands should be made in order to ensure peace could be ascertained for both sides." James said lifting a holo-sheet.

"The terms of the UCAF withdrawal and closure to the war will be these:  
>First the council will withdraw with the UCAF on the middle of this year and hold positions over designated locations of a demilitarised zone.<br>The demilitarised zone shall be a 75 light year stretch of space between all of UCAF space.  
>UCAF space will encompass the entire exodus cluster to smaller bands in different regions across the galaxy, regions such as the Nexus Point, Helios Cluster, and the edge of the Voyager cluster."<p>

The turian interrupted in anger.  
>"Those are sovereign territory of the turian hierarchy and those regions are critical zones in deep space expedition programs Captain, how does your alliance council intend of compensating out losses?"<p>

"Councillor, I am merely a soldier and I have no certainty that the UCAF would even bother to pay for reparations of a war that you started. Now I shall continue.  
>The UCAF and the forces will be colonising zones within the regions that we shall be taking, the demilitarized zones included. The UCAF will also include a large presence within the zones designated and ensure that the safety of those colonies is continuous and unabated.<br>The council will be allowed for trading in the few posts we shall be including.  
>And any relay that is active within the regions of the UCAF controlled space shall be locked down with the exception that the designated colonies used for trading shall remain active.<br>The UCAF shall not ask for reparations for the damage to the colonies during the war and the UCAF would also ask that the council do not pursue any sort of payment; the UCAF doesn't have any sort of currency used by the council to pay for such reparations so don't bother to ask.  
>That is all that was permitted by the UCAF senate." James finished.<p>

The turian councillor was fuming, the demands of the UCAF were high and higher than what he would like, and the hierarchy would be shamed for allowing a race to get what they wanted.  
>"This is an outrage, the demands of the UCAF are too high, are you foolish enough to believe that we would accept these ridiculous terms? They demand that we shall not have armed patrols near your space and ask that we do not ask for compensations for families? How shall be pay for the millions of soldiers you have killed?"<p>

"And how do you expect to pay for the millions of innocents that your hierarchy allowed to be murdered at the hands of a patriot? How about the thousands of innocents killed in shadow operations into the UCAF controlled regions? How about the attempt of the use of WMDs being attached to turian trading ships and dropped on human controlled worlds? We have seen your attempts at us councillor, and you know damn well we should be demanding that you pay for your damage, but we won't because you know that we could easily take it from you." James threatened.

Tevos tried to save face of the situation.  
>"Captain, the demands that the UCAF place active military forces into the neutral zone for defensive purposes, doesn't that contradict the very purpose of having a demilitarized zone?"<p>

"The UCAF intends on making it so, but with the council unable to defend its own colonies from pirates what else would you have the UCAF do? Lie on our back and act like there is no threat? We would rather kill our enemies than be killed councillor, and you have no right to disarm our forces." He replied.

"Then how about a compromise?" Maelon suggested.

"What sort of compromise?" James asked.

"The UCAF states that the region is neutral, so how about a third party take control of the demilitarized zones and the space that the UCAF intends to control, are you sure that this cannot be accomplished in place of the UCAF?" Maelon asked.

"The senate has been on that debate, and if it is passed, then the demilitarized zone and a few of the UCAF colonies there would become the independent colonial alliance, ICA, they'd run the regions in the zone if there is need to. But I doubt that the members at HIGH COM would be willing to allow such things to be passed without further consideration, especially since that would mean that the ICA would have little to no support from the UCAF should it fall under attack."

"We doubt that the chances of the ICA being attacked would be as severe, however this would be a more subtle option in our opinion, rather than having a recognised government which had openly attacked the galaxy, the ICA would seem more independent." Maelon added thoughtfully.

"I agree, however it is all depending on the choice that the alliance senate would agree upon it, so until an agreement is reached, we shall have to wait and see." James finished.

The council adjourned for that day, there would be more to come in the following weeks.

XXXXX

(This is the arc for the UCAF and council for now, it isn't the best, but it'll have to do, it's just a recap of everything the council had been doing, in a basic summary. There's a lot I missed, but better this than nothing. I'll see to the next chapter now.)


	16. Chapter 16

CH16

XXXXX

Exodus Part 2

XXXXX

Anderson was blinded by the lights but he could make out the darkened silhouette of the quarian admiral standing amongst the lights with his small army, the quarian admiral addressed the commander.  
>"You're just in time for the liberation of my people commander; I say it's rather a surprise that the UCAF caught on with the ploy so easily. Your captain hat no doubted that I would try something risky in the name of my people's freedom."<p>

"FREEDOM? Is this what you call freedom? The turians are only here to ensure that the quarians discredit the UCAF and hand you a pact of shame for your troubles, the council wants nothing from the quarians aside cheap labour and a scape goat for all their sociological problems. You think this is freedom? You need to get out more." Anderson replied adamantly.

The marine squad took their positions around the entrance; they knew what had to be done. Anderson tried to distract the admiral a little longer.  
>"Why take the gamble that this would all work out Goro? What gains could the quarian people receive from the council? What could you possibly win from this?"<p>

Goro paced around the command desk, Anderson could see the hostages, the other admirals and 6 quarians were packed behind the desk, this would make the job easier and harder to deal with since the crossfire might get everyone killed. Anderson checked his sights, there were 3 ways to get this done, and most of the time it would have some risk involved about the hostages.

"You wouldn't understand commander; the quarian people do not need assistance from those who take pity upon us! We are our own people, I only bargain for my people to given the means to bring us to our past glory, I intend on taking our ancient home back from the synthetics, not bowing to synthetic users!" He replied heatedly.

"This is all about the UCAFs AI programming? Is this what it's all about, being able to feel free from the thoughts of machinery which can think and give opinions? How much better is it to give your race to a bunch of grovelling bureaucrats than to accept freedom of choice at the hands of machines? You act as if you know what freedom is, but in truth you are blinded by your own ambitions of glory to see the deceit that the council forces shove down your throat!" Anderson replied.

"The only deceit is the lies that you feed to all others! You and those who you fight with all proclaim to fight for the betterment of your race, and yet you don't even know what or why you truly fight!" Goro countered.

"I know what I fight for. But for you, that's a long way off." Anderson finished.

The room's lights went out and then all hell broke loose, the fire came from all around as the flash bang grenades went in, the room exploded into a blurry haze as the marines came from all sides and attacked, machineguns and rifles kicked back tearing the mechs apart. Anderson dropped low enough to pick out his SMG and begin removing the turians.

A missile flew over and exploded at the wall where one marine was, his body went flying into a wall, the marines scattered as they concentrated their fire on the large YMIR mechs, the quarian admiralty was still where they were, thankfully only suffering a few grazing wounds from the whole mess. As the firefight progressed there came new allies, the doors at the rear of the room opened up and out came quarian marines and a few engineers, they used combat drones and hacked the YMIR mechs.

The chaos ensued and the quarian rebels soon had the upper hand as they tore into the usurpers, Goro realised that victory could not be attained; he needed to make a speedy withdrawal. The marines pushed onwards and destroyed 2 mechs with the third being downed by both sides and the last being shot to pieces by the quarians.

The hurried over to the admiralty members, they seemed relatively fine. Anderson was glad that at least one thing didn't go horribly wrong, he asked.  
>"Admirals, are you okay?"<p>

"Fine commander, you have our gratitude. This act of treason by Goro must not go unpunished, I suspected that this might one day occur, but not amongst the ranks of those entrusted by our people." Ulla stated angrily.

"We'll pursue them ASAP, but who are these people?" Anderson asked about the ragtag members of the ship.

One of the quarian rebels noticed that attention had been changed to her and her team.  
>"Our apologies, we are the quarian independence and freedom activists, we work as a political team on the flotilla we were here to discuss the offer made by the UCAF, I am the leader of this party, Narea Vas Tomo."<p>

"Well thank you for the assistance Narea, I'm hope that you might still be able to help, do you know of any exit points that the rogue admiral might use?" Anderson asked.

"He'll be trying to get out from the lower hangar bay, I'm sure that's how the turians managed to get inside the ship, if you want we can navigate for you." Narea offered.

Anderson looked at his team, 2 men down and 3 wounded slightly, he couldn't manage a force of only half strength. He considered his options and decided.  
>"Very well, you can help us capture Goro, he's your problem, but at least give us the time to get the information from that traitor before making any hasty judgements."<p>

"Very well, we'll lead the way." Narea stated.

The quarians opened the door to pursue the renegade admiral, the team hurried down the corridor after him, they only encountered a few locked doors, but Narea seemed to know a way around them quite quickly. Anderson noticed that the quarian's Omni tool was a cool green colour, it didn't seem anything like the other galactic variations he had seen, and quite often he had never seen any other coloured Omni tools so he couldn't tell.

The young engineer also seemed a little distracted as if she was speaking to someone while running, but it might be her just looking at her tool while trying not to trip. He followed her until they reached a junction to the lower levels. She paused and told him.  
>"Commander, there's about a dozen contacts beyond this door; I have scans that they're turian spec ops."<p>

"Damn, this is going to take too long to engage them and then continue, Goro will be half way to his shuttle by then." Anderson gritted.

He thought about another idea.  
>"Narea, is there any other way around the turians?"<p>

"Yes, but that'll lead us down a very narrow passage way, or somewhere rather unpleasant." She replied.

"Better than nothing, what's the fastest way to catch up to the admiral?" He asked.

"Down the vents over down the corridor, it'll lead us about 2 rooms from him, and then we might catch him down in maintenance." She replied.

He nodded and addressed his team.  
>"Marines, engage those turians, me and the engineer will take an alternate route, take out those turians here and catch up with us down in the hangar." He ordered.<p>

A shout of acknowledgements followed and the commander motioned for Narea to follow him.  
>"So it's just us going in after the admiral?" She said in confusion.<p>

"Yes, because if anyone else goes with us they'll be too slow to keep up, and I doubt the turians had that many troops with them in the first place. We'll be faster than a platoon of marines." He replied as he lifted the grate off a vent.

"These vents lead straight to the maintenance bay, it's going to be very humid in there, and the vents pump a lot of heat from the environmental controls." She warned.

"Well don't worry, I can stand a bit of heat, and besides you're inside an enviro suit, we'll be fine." He said getting inside the vent.

The quarian hesitated but followed after the commander, they never knew that the drop would be an exactly vertical drop. The two fell down the shaft fast, they hit metal turns and bumps wherever they appeared, curves and turns were also common for the 2 as they reached the end of the slide, they ended up at a grate which held a fan, thankfully the fan wasn't active.

Anderson kicked the side of the vent and popped the hatch into the maintenance bay, they dropped to the ground and he commented.  
>"I'm getting too old for this shit."<p>

He helped Narea up and then jogged for the door. Opening the door they found themselves exactly 2 corridors away from the admiral. Without a word Anderson gripped the quarian and lifted her onto his back and asked.  
>"Which way now?"<p>

Narea was shocked a little bit, this was an unexpected turn of events, he was giving her a piggy back, and she took a moment to reply.  
>"Follow the corridor straight ahead and then take a right, and then a left and then follow on straight to a stair well, we should see him as we get to the level below." She explained.<p>

Anderson nodded and sprinted, the armour he was wearing wasn't for show, the suit had adrenal boosters much like that of any UCAF armour, and combat drugs were a necessity to those who require them in intensive situations. Time constraints were also a pain in the neck for marines on a set time limit, these adrenal drugs worked in a manner that saved a lot of time for long runs.

His adrenal implant kept him rushing down at top speeds for 30 seconds, he made the distance to the corridor next to Goro in less than 10. When he exited the corridor behind the quarian rogue he could see that the admiral was absolutely terrified by the UCAF marine. Narea pulled her pistol and loaded a concussion round.  
>"Get in closer…" She said trying to shoot.<p>

But before they could take the shot on the admiral, he slammed the next set of blast doors behind him, Anderson had to halt there and catch his breath, Narea swore. "That bosh'tet."

"Don't worry; we haven't lost him yet…" Anderson pulled his com out and called in the one person who could stop the admiral.  
>"Melissa, are you there?"<p>

"Melissa here, what do you need commander?" The pilot asked.

"I need you to do something very stupid and very fast." He replied.

XXXXX

Goro had thanked himself that his codes for the emergency doors still worked, he managed to lose the damn rebel and her forsaken human ally, the humans were a pest that he needed to lose that the council and the rest of the galaxy didn't need or want, why couldn't they see that? The galaxy was better off without them, and he wanted to make that stand with his people, they could do just as well on their own.

Goro made it to the hangar where his shuttle was waiting, 2 escort gunships were also waiting patiently for his arrival. He rushed to where the turians were gathered, they didn't salute, they motioned to the shuttle and he boarded the vehicle, he kicked the engines up, but something caught his sight.

A human gunship, which he did recall as a pelican was flying straight at the hangar bay doors, Goro paused for a moment in shock and then he screamed.  
>"Those bastards!"<p>

The drop ship accelerated and crashed into the bay, it landed straight on his shuttle and exploded in a fireball, the turians who were unfortunate to be too close were vaporised while massive chunks of shrapnel were tossed in the air. Goro on the other hand was thrown from the blast and behind a crate, his suit had suffered a minor puncture from the flying debris, but he could still move.

Looking up from the wreck the admiral huffed and carefully crawled from the crate to try and reach the nearest turian gunship, as he limped he didn't hear the hiss of the doors to the bay opening.  
>Anderson yelled.<br>"There he is."

Narea and Anderson made after the quarian admiral, but they didn't make it in time to stop Goro from jumping into the gunship and getting it started.  
>Anderson yelled.<br>"Oh shit."

The marine knocked the quarian engineer away from the pad as the gunship took off. The take-off was a little shaky, but Anderson wasn't going to let the admiral escape so easily, he noticed that there was locking braces for the hangar should it ever be breached by anything, or should the hangar bay shield fail to contain the atmosphere.  
>"Narea, hold onto something."<p>

The quarian obeyed and quickly grasped the metal grate of the landing pad; Anderson took out an EM explosive shell from his pocket and loaded it into his AR. He aimed carefully and fired it straight into the frame of the hangar containment fields. The shell hit the controls and then shorted them, the containment loss was explosive enough to send everything flying out uncontrollably, the gunship in which the admiral was on stumbled about, it didn't crash, but he couldn't exit the bay properly.

Then the doors for the emergency lockdown initiated and closed, the doors sealed immediately and cut the gunship off from exiting the bay. Inside the cockpit of the gunship the admiral swore.  
>"Damn it all…"<p>

Anderson and Narea let go once the hangar decompression passed, they jumped up from the floor to see that the gunship with Goro was still inside the bay. Anderson also noticed that the admiral none too happy with the two interlopers and was about to go postal.  
>The booming of the speakers shouted.<br>"Damn you and your twisted beliefs human!"

The gunship opened up on them and fired in streams of fire at the two; Anderson and Narea took cover behind the nearest shelter and ducked as the heavy machine gun fire from the gunship sprayed them. Anderson fired back with his AR, but sadly a UCAF AR can't punch through as fast though heavier armed targets than just usual infantry.

The gunship continued its rampage of fire as it sprayed its deadly rounds at them, Goro then fired a few missiles to scare the two out from cover. Anderson analysed their situation, the admiral wanted them dead for interfering with his plans to overthrow the admiralty board and causing a civil war between the quarians and themselves. Goro was delusional with the fear of the humans taking over the entire quarian race and forcing them to accept AIs as allies.

Anderson could tell that the man was completely nuts, and probably losing cohesion due to being hit by shrapnel, the drugs weren't helping the admiral. Anderson asked Narea.  
>"Any ideas on how to bring down the gunship?"<p>

"I have no idea." She replied over the roar of the machine guns.

They had little cover and a large gunship with a lot of firepower and support was still someway off, Anderson guessed that this was what people called being in between a hard place and a rock, a rock which happened to be metal and the hard place being the obvious killing machine right in front on him. Anderson needed something to cripple the gunship and fast, or blind it.

Anderson looked around him; he needed anything that he could grab that might work, 3 canisters of compressed hydrogen lay nearby. Anderson reached into his suit inventory and removed a carbon cable and a magnetic hook. The gunship overheated its guns and moved off; Anderson took his chance and quickly tossed and hooked the canister and pulled it to him.

Narea asked.  
>"What do you think you're doing?"<p>

"Relearning explosives 101, the old fashioned fuel bomb manoeuvre, I hadn't tried this since boot camp." He replied.

He pulled out a cluster of grenades and used the carbon cable to hold each of the grenades in place, he knew that this was one hell of an unstable explosive; he almost blew off his own arm trying to do it last time, so he knew the risks involved with the bomb. He loaded all of his EM and flashbang rounds to the canister and made sure to load his pistol with HEAT rounds.

The trick was the timing, not the shooting; the gunship would deal with the shooting part. The problem was just getting it right. He waited until the gunship came back for more, he asked Narea.  
>"I need you to run over to the alcove over there…' He pointed to the nearby gap in the hangar where tools were kept with the workbenches during repairs, it was barely 3 meters away, but three meters could be a very long run for someone trying to out run a gunship. "…and distract the gunship for me just for a few seconds, I need to get this thing airborne." He replied indicating to the canister.<p>

"Oh keelah, why me?" She asked apprehensively.

"Because, I need to throw this thing and if it gets hit, we both explode in a very fiery death." He replied candidly.

Narea weighed her options and cursed; she nodded and timed her run, the gunship fired off a few more shots. Narea broke into a sprint as fast as she could as the gunship tracked her; Anderson took his chance and tossed the makeshift fuel bomb. He used his augmented suit's strength and adrenal implants to toss the explosive the distance. The speed at which it travelled was pretty damn fast, Goro only saw it as it finally reached the corner of his eye.

Anderson whipped his pistol out and fired 3 bursts.  
>"Have a nice day you prick." He shouted as the bomb exploded.<p>

Goro probably wouldn't have seen what the commander said, probably because he was thrown backwards by the blast, his crash harness tore at the seams, and his suit was shredded by the force of the blast. The quarian admiral burned for a few seconds, the shrapnel doing most of the damage rather than the actual blast. Anderson had predicted his throw by the moment; the blast would be too powerful for the gunship's shields and break through.

The admiral would probably live, but not for long, the gunship crashed to the deck of the hangar hard, its engines exploding in a mess of wires and metal, the explosion of the bomb was felt over the whole ship, if not as significantly in certain places. Anderson watched as the gunship smouldered on the floor of the hangar, he could see that the hull and cockpit were relatively intact. Narea moved from her cover, she looked on in utter shock; this was the first time she had seen such a daring move from a living being.

"Better make sure that we don't lose him yet." Anderson suggested as they moved to the gunship.

The wreck was on fire, but it didn't seem to be a threat of exploding again. Anderson checked the cockpit, and to his surprise he didn't find the body of the admiral, that was when he noticed the faint trail of blood, the trail followed with some scattered footsteps. He and Narea found the admiral, Goro, was hobbling away with a badly burned chest and heavily torn leg, his suit had more large tears than Anderson had fingers.

"Hold it there Goro." Anderson pointed a pistol from behind the admiral.

The admiral paused and stood there breathing hard, he seemed to be nearing death. He replied to the commander.  
>"Anderson… you and your people cause only death… 'cough' only pain, misery, destruction. Why do you fight? What purpose do you fight for? 'cough'." He stammered as he tried to stay upright.<p>

Anderson remembered a similar discussion from years ago, his parents, and his commander once asked him that same one. The message had stayed the same.  
>"Why must we fight? I fight for my people, not just my people, for those under my command; I never let them go into death traps I know that they'll get killed. They depend on me making the right choice; they depend on me making sure that they get home. They rely on me making the right choice for them all, and when the time comes when we have to sacrifice, I make sure that they aren't alone, and they know that the choice to sacrifice is what they truly want. I fight for my friends admiral, what we are as friends as comrades. Brothers till the end. As one once said. Mankind fights for what it believes in is right, and what it believes is in the best intentions of others and itself. We might make mistakes, but all living beings do. Don't they?" He asked the dying man.<p>

The admiral turned and faced him; Anderson could see the man he now looked at, his pale skin underneath the suit his bleeding eyes. He coughed and replied.  
>"For all we do, we have the best intentions for everyone… and yet we make the same mistakes. Not everyone will agree, and I made mine with what I saw commander… 'cough' this is the price I pay."<p>

The commander never had a chance to ask, the admiral was suddenly shot, and the round went through his skull. Anderson was just as shocked as Narea when the admiral died. The sounds of a gunship roared to life and the then the sounds of the emergency doors opening. Anderson and Narea rushed past the corpse of the admiral to see a gunship lifting off the deck, the power had been restored to the containment fields and Anderson had no EM rounds or grenades to stop the gunship.

But before the gunship left, he spotted someone, a turian with glowing eyes. He looked at Anderson from the back hatch of the gunship as it closed, he saw him mouth.  
>"It's not over…"<p>

The gunship flew outside the containment field and then disappear into the havoc outside. Anderson's and Narea's teams arrived on the scene before them; they were too late to help in the situation. The death of Admiral Goro would live on in legend, the one who nearly destroyed the Migrant Fleet with the best intentions of saving it. His name would be cleared for what he did that day, but it would be shrouded in infamy as the rebellion of the honourable.

XXXXX

6 hours later

Anderson and Narea were waiting as the UCAF and the quarian admiralty board finally came to an agreement, the quarians wanted protection and assistance. The attack had leaded the quarians to disregard the threats of the council banning them from ever returning to the greater galaxy. If not anything the quarians were happy with losing this curse that their ancestors had buried them under, the quarians were joining the UCAF for protection and a cure for their immunity flaw.

The quarian migrant fleet wasn't to head out of the region for another week, the UCAF had to send in a recovery fleet to help move the hundreds of damaged ships and vessels from the region, especially the Mythic class that Duran was under the command of, his vessel had taken a beating from the fight, even if it was the largest super cruiser made, the ship wasn't invincible.

The quarian admiralty board exited from the room with Captain Duran and his team, they headed to the commander and their fellow quarian who had helped rebel against the traitor admiral. Duran arrived and saluted to the two.  
>"Damn fine work Commander and thank you Narea, you two have proven that our differences can be put aside, and for the betterment of the flotilla."<p>

Ulla added.  
>"Yes and thanks to you two, we plan on a joined project hopefully in the future; this is the first and largest step our people have made in over 300 years since our exile. Our exodus ends here, in less than a month the entire quarian race will have a new home, and with our immune systems recovering we can finally rebuild."<p>

The other admiral nodded, they couldn't have worded it better. Anderson felt something pecking in the back of his head, and he decided to ask.  
>"Narea, when we were running down the corridors and through some of the junctions, you seemed capable of hacking the doors like they weren't there, might I ask where did you get that AI?"<p>

The room suddenly fell into a sudden hush. Narea looked at Anderson in surprise.  
>"What? I have no idea what you speak of."<p>

"Narea, there's something called a neural interface network, I and only the captain can actually notice the small tag that's now present in your suit, and also who else happens to have a Omni tool that glows green?" Anderson raised an eyebrow.

"Is this true engineer Narea?" Ulla asked.

Narea knew that she was caught in a tight spot, and with the UCAF right here, she knew that she couldn't run, hiding Aaron wouldn't last forever. She sighed.  
>"Aaron you can show yourself now."<p>

The spark from the Omni tool expanded the image of a young man dressed in green overalls; he looked a little frazzled from his time in isolation with his quarian partner.  
>"Sir!" The AI saluted to the officers.<p>

"So this must be the AI from the ONI base that went missing over 3 years ago?" Duran asked.

"Sir, you know I am right here." Aaron replied a bit annoyed.

"Sorry, my ID isn't showing your name, and now it is. Welcome back Aaron, it's been a while since you went AWOL hasn't it?" Duran asked.

"It's a long story captain, I needed to escape from the base, and this young quarian offered to take me, I couldn't say no, this was my chance to maybe make a difference. Sorry about the timing though." He apologised.

"No, don't worry; I guess this answers your question commander." Duran said to Anderson.

Narea asked.  
>"Does this mean you have to take him back?"<p>

Duran thought about it, this was a UCAF AI with the intelligence from the ONI section 3 on the research base from the first contact incident at the beginning of the war; it probably had its memory wiped before the quarian took him so there wasn't any harm.  
>"No, that's fine; the UCAF has spare assistants AIs for normal tasks Narea you can keep him."<p>

The quarian sighed. The admirals looked at Aaron nervously but they put their faith in the captain that not all AIs are evil, they're only created differently, and Aaron would probably be the one who hacked all the doors and dispensers for Narea, which would explain why the tap on level 12 was leaking over the whole place. They decided to wait for the UCAF to leave before inquiring into what activities their young engineer had been doing with her AI.

Anderson asked the Captain.  
>"Sir, if you don't mind, I need to know, do you know anything about the turian I saw?"<p>

Duran turned to the commander and faced him before he announced it.  
>"The turian is known as Saren Arterius, the council's best spectre, a figure who is nigh untouchable in the whole of citadel space. The war should mean absolutely nothing for us Anderson, but I have some news that just came in." Duran said with a grim face.<p>

"What happened sir?" Anderson was sure that nothing ever good came from the news that the captain usually brought.

"As of 3 hours ago, the UCAF Few and None under the command of the UCAF HIGH COM arrived at the Citadel today, and the captain under the command of the senate was ordered to send in a ultimatum to the council, it was agreed upon after an hours debate, the immediate ceasefire of all UCAF personnel and members. Commander, the war is over…"

XXXXX

The usurper had failed, the ploy to bring the quarians into the war had failed and so had the other plans and projects, all meant to crush the UCAF or discredit them, but all had failed. How the hell can the UCAF be that well prepared? Saren hit his hands into the command chair, he gritted his teeth, there was nothing that was going right, even now the UCAF attack the research facilities on Noveria and even with the aid of Providence it wasn't enough.

He was fuming. But he kept his peace, soon enough, all will be well, the war now had ended, but it was far from over, there would always be those who want more and more, and soon enough he'll give them what they want. The terminus systems would just have to suffice, and besides, not all of his plans were in ruins.

He hit the com line on his interface.  
>"So, how have you been brother?"<p>

"The Broker have provided the weapons we need, with them the UCAF shall meet us with fear, the ion shell composition designs have been adjusted we'll be able to equal them with our own weapons soon enough." Desolas replied.

"**Good, when we are through with them, we shall show these humans and their damned allies where their place remains!"** He vented.

XXXXX

(Oh crap, well it seems that the tensions of the story are still building, there is much more to come…)

Oh and I did a calculation of the whole story if it was completed with 5000+ for every chapter, it was somewhere between 360,000 – 450,000 words.

I know that's a lot of words.


	17. Chapter 17

CH17

The path least taken, is the path to change

XXXXX

Shepard knew that one, his exo-suit wouldn't survive a prolonged fight with a reaper, and secondly he was going to need a few new guns. Shepard fired at full burst with the shoulder mini-gun, the weapon spewed forth a torrent of hyper velocity rounds into the chitin like armour composition of the reaper. Shepard strafed carefully around the legs as the mini reaper continued to attack.

"Wrex fire support now!" Shepard yelled as he continued to unleash hell.

The krogan rushed over to where a marine had been killed during the previous fire fight with the collectors, his grenade launcher and assault rifle lay close enough for the krogan to pick up. Wrex loaded the grenade launcher and began to fire off shells at the reaper's legs. It seemed that the firepower of a squad of marines and an asari matriarch weren't going to cut it though.

The reaper was getting annoyed; it stomped into the plaza with a heavy thump and sent the group of marines and Shepard flying. Wrex and Aria used their biotics to avoid being tossed by the impact. Shepard regained his footing with his suit and fell back while firing off shots, he used the lancer MG and fired at the legs of the reaper, the 32cal projectiles moving at 1/3rd the speed of light should have done some damage, but the reaper's body seemed to only dent after a few moments.

The reaper felt the impacts and immediately shifted in order to avoid Shepard punching into its body, the reaper fired from its mouth down into the floor of the plaza. The sheer heat and explosive force sent them all flying; Shepard went through the front of the supermarket that they were right in front of. Aria and Wrex were both thrown next to him and Shepard's captain, Matthew was just gripping the floor with his adamantium blades.

The marines and the aliens knew a hopeless fight when they saw one, they couldn't get through the damned reaper with their firepower unless they concentrated enough at a weak point or joint, the problem was also because the reaper knew to knock them back. It would get them all killed before they ever managed to pierce the chitin armour and disable the shields of the reaper.

Shepard decided that they had to fall back.  
>"Damn fall back into the shop; we won't be able to take it down."<p>

The others agreed and made their hasty withdrawal from the front of the shop, the reaper remained it continued to dig into Omega. They got into the interior of the market near the storage, Shepard had to carefully navigate the 9ft armour around the corners without knocking anything over, and when they all regrouped Shepard asked.  
>"So anyone have a plan to deal with a frigate sized reaper?"<p>

Matthew shrugged, and so did the others, they hadn't a plan. It took a moment but then Wrex suggested.  
>"If that laser inside the mouth of that thing was to go off that'd make a pretty big explosion."<p>

"Yeah, but one problem that thing is firing it, even if we managed to get past the legs and toss something in, the laser would just melt it, we'd never hit the thing." Matthew replied.

Shepard thought about it.  
>"What would we need to stop a laser blast?"<p>

"A lot of shielding?" One marine stated.

"Yeah, but we don't have a fusion shield generator with us, how are we going to get a shield that powerful without a fusion generator?" Another marine asked.

"Actually, how about a fusion bomb?" Shepard suggested.

"What?" Aria perplexed.

"Our suits all have micro-fusion generators, why don't we just stick all of the generator packs into a bomb and then set it on a proximity charge and then detonate it on the reaper?" Shepard explained.

"Sir, that's going to be one hell of an explosion, and not to mention the fusion packs aren't meant to be clustered like that, how the hell are we going to do this without dying?" Matthew asked.

"Easy, biotics." Shepard replied.

Their eyes followed Aria who suddenly noticed the shift in attention. She got the message alright.  
>"I swear to the goddess I will kick your ass Shepard if this is one way of pissing me off…"<p>

XXXXX

Shepard rigged the explosive charge, he knew how this was going to go, he needed to disable the laser and keep the reaper busy for Aria to make the throw. Once it's away Shepard will make a hasty get away from the explosion and join the others in the rear of the shop, they had found an express chute that led to the level below. Once Shepard had dealt with the reaper he would jump from there and then reach the regroup point where Matthew and his team would wait for the colonel.

Shepard would have to make sure that the asari didn't get hit by any stray shots; she didn't like getting shot at. Shepard mounted his suit once more and made sure to loosen the harness on his body when he made the escape. The reaper continued to fire its laser into the depths of Omega, Shepard could see that Aria was getting pissed off at the wanton destruction of her empire.

"Heads are going to roll once I get my hands on those insectoid fuckers." She hissed.

He hushed her and then made his way to the left side of the reaper's blind spot, he made sure that Aria stayed close to cover, she only had one shot at this, and Shepard knew that he had limited ammo and time to deal with the frigate sized reaper. He primed a grenade and tossed it into the pit that the reaper was digging. Once it exploded, the reaper turned its attention away from the hole and targeted the source of the attack.

Arms clawed at Shepard barely missing his suit by inches, he dodged the arms and fired while running. The lancer machine guns firing in endless streams at the bulky metallic limbs, he managed to get a clean shot at the maw of the beast like machine and rip a few holes into the soft internal machinery. It pissed the reaper off, it charged a laser blast, but Shepard knew how to deal with that.

The laser had a 5 second charge, he pulled his grenade launcher and fired a single EM round, it would stun the reaper for just a bit, but enough for the asari to get the shot. Once the EM round detonated, Aria took her chance. Running from cover to the maw, the asari used her biotic powers and lifted the makeshift bomb, she got underneath and tossed in upwards, the timer went down as the bomb went up.

Aria cleared out before it reached the top, Shepard jumped from the suit and rushed over to the shop, barely 10 second left. He jumped through the isles right behind the asari and through to the back, 5 seconds, he found the chute and jumped as the bomb went off. The amazing thing about the makeshift bomb was that it was self-contained within a certain blast radius. The blast ripped the reaper apart in seconds, but the blast was thankfully contained up on the higher level.

Aria commented.  
>"Well there goes my HQ and my favourite club in one night, gotta say Shepard, you have a knack for blowing shit up."<p>

Aria got out first from the mess that they had landed in, it seemed that they arrived somewhere on the lower residential district not far from the port. Shepard could already hear the shouts over the com channels from the arriving marines, and those who had been pinned for the last few hours on the station.

Matthew signalled for Shepard and Aria to head over.  
>"Sir, you need to get here ASAP, we've got problems." The captain insisted.<p>

Shepard couldn't just catch a break, he looked at Aria who seemed to be rather perplexed at what could be more problematic than a frigate sized reaper. She followed on after the colonel as he headed to the location of the captain in a short jog, Shepard's suit was completely scratched and dented, even after all the years he had it with him it had finally met its match, a crap load of problems in one day.

He reached the barricades where the captain and the marines waited, Wrex was even ducked besides a crate and eyeing the rooftops carefully. Shepard kneeled down besides his captain and asked.  
>"What's the problem Matthew?"<p>

"We've just got reports of where our support ended up, the entire 15th Shanxi regiment landed right behind us, they're cornered at the port and scattered over the whole fucking port, not to mention that 4 companies of shock troopers are cut off in the residential district. We have a serious logistical fuck up, but it isn't our fault." Matthew explained.

"What do you mean?" Shepard inquired.

"We're receiving scattered transmissions from isolated locations, it seems that something is jamming our transmissions and whatever it is, they're big enough for our teams to locate them, but its making the situation hard to negate sir. Someone needs to get out there and eliminate the jammers." Matthew replied.

Shepard felt that he had just volunteered for another god damn mission, but it seemed that the universe wanted to fuck with him, badly. He shook his head and sighed.  
>"Where are the locations of these jammers?"<p>

The captain pulled out a radar pulse and map.  
>"There are about 9 in total in this district, and about 4 of them are close enough to be noticed, when this radar pulse is interrupted, then there's a jammer close by. Just make sure to clear them out carefully, the teams report that there might be floating explosive bulbs that can track you." Matthew advised.<p>

"Great, so there's now a walking hunter missile launching fucking tank, with jammers on top of that." Shepard grunted.

Matthew explained their primary objective in the port though.  
>"Sir, we need to link up with the marines here on the port, I can take my team and go after the troops landing on the port hangars, if you can rally the marines scattered around, they can help with dealing with the collectors, just make sure to tag them with a fission tag, those things are more effective than just normal markers."<p>

"Very well, get going Matthew, I'll catch up with you once we rally the marines, and I'll see what I can do about the jammers, but I might need heavier weapons to deal with the collectors." Shepard asked.

"There are drops at each location where you mark a UCAF platoon or squad that is cut off; you can gather some gear from the extra drops. We might be able to get a vehicle down soon enough if the jammers can be removed." Matthew replied.

"Okay we're going to get moving." Shepard said to Wrex and Aria.

"We?" Aria perplexed.

"Yes, we are going to get involved in taking back the station." Shepard deadpanned.

Aria eyed him and said.  
>"Fine, but don't expect me to follow your orders, I'm usually good on my own." She said standing up.<p>

Shepard reacted fast enough to tackle the asari and knock her to the side and pull his pistol out and fire in 3 bursts. The sniper on the other side of the street went down and dropped dead. Aria was staring at the speeds of Shepard's reflexes. She hadn't seen anyone do that before, he had to have been pretty damn fast.  
>"Oh, if you're worried about taking orders, take it under advisement rather than orders."<p>

He helped the asari up, Aria smiled at him.  
>"Looks like you know how to play my game." She smirked and then pulled his pistol from his SMG with 2 clips and walked on.<p>

"Well mum used to say, I know how to pick em." He chuckled to himself and followed after the asari.

Wrex just mumbled.  
>"The best things come from the worst places."<p>

XXXXX

Shepard and his new ragtag team was now on their way to the nearest team of marines cut off in the mess of an operation, they were about 50 meters from their initial starting point, being located at a block near an arcade, it wasn't hard to reach them, passing collectors came and went, but most headed to the port to stem the UCAF counter invasion force.

The team navigated their way until they reached the marines position. The sounds of gunfire and explosions were a clear indicator that the marines were definitely alive and kicking, the rapid bursts of heavy machine guns and grenade launchers was returned in volume of sheer spray. The collectors weren't as good as the turians when it came to shooting, but they still hit hard.

Shepard could spot about a platoon strength which was pinned just outside the arcade, they had taken wounded, and with their numbers the collectors would eventually overrun their position. Shepard loaded his AR carbine and pulled out a couple of frag grenades.  
>"So who wants to go first?" Shepard asked.<p>

Aria shrugged and pulled her biotic powers together. She focused on a cluster of collectors and then popped from cover; she sent a vortex at the group and sucked them into a micro black hole like sphere. Shepard and Wrex picked off a squad of collectors, who were too busy facing the marines to notice them from the battle, and the made their way down to the battle.

The collectors split their forces there, the troops hurrying to attack the colonel and keep the marines under pressure. Shepard brought his sights down on the rushing collector drones and blasted them away. One collector made a mad jump and attacked by flying through the air, Shepard was tackled to the ground, but he managed to keep hold of his gun. He jerked the rifle backwards and then put his foot into the abdomen of the alien and then kicked hard.

The collector hit the ground backwards, and then Shepard unloaded a shot from his AR into its face. He got back to dealing with the rest of the collectors, keeping note that they were going to try to engage him in close combat if they were desperate enough. He kept firing until he heard something.

"**Shepard**!" A voice screamed in an unholy tone.

Shepard knew that voice from anywhere, he popped out from cover and saw the form of a drone transform, it glowed a bright orange and red and then began to fire at him in furious bursts while sending out blasts of fire from its palms. Shepard kept down and fired back; he loaded a HE shell to his AR underslung launcher and then waited.

As soon as the possessed came close enough, Shepard pulled from cover and fired at the collector, the possessed exploded into a mass of ash as the HE round ripped into it. The ash vanished and Shepard hurried with killing the rest of the drones, another possessed would be the last thing he needed especially since the bastard was annoying to kill.

Wrex flanked from the left of the arcade by taking some stairs to a café nearby, he cleared the collectors out and then pushed onwards with his shotguns and scavenged rifles, Aria sent a shockwave and sent collectors flying through the air, everyone took advantage of the attack and shot the collectors to hell. The team advanced on the marines.

Shepard made contact with the marines who were present by sending his IFF, the team was acknowledged and the marines waved them over. Shepard was greeted by a young lieutenant.  
>"Sir, thanks for the assist."<p>

"No problem lieutenant, what's the situation?" He asked.

"We're in need of an ammo drop, and a medivac, we haven't been able to get our wounded to safety." The lieutenant explained.

"Very well, I'll drop beacon here, do you have any com interference in this region?" He asked.

"Yeah, but that was over an hour ago, the 15th Shanxi Marauders pushed on passed the collectors to engage some of the jammers, we don't know what happened to them, but there's reports that they're trying to take out a couple of them just west of our position, they might need some help." The young marine replied.

"Okay, stay here with your platoon and make sure to wait for the medivac and support teams to arrive." The marine saluted.

The colonel dropped beacon and hit the ground with a flare, a UCAF gunship would pass overhead and drop in ammo. 4 canisters arrived in short order from an Aries gunship, it left a lot of ammo that they team needed, and a couple of heavy weapons. Shepard lost his MG Lancer when he abandoned the exo-suit so he needed something that would be effective against the collectors in CQC.

He found what he was looking for, a CC-AP10 Titan shotgun, it was a long barrel shotgun with laser sights and a scope, it fired a deadly burst of accelerated rounds which scattered over a wide range, it would work effectively against the collectors for sure and it had plenty of ammo. He took the Titan from its rack and locked it on his back, it was a bulky gun, but it was pretty damn useful for those going in for intense CQC battles.

Shepard remembered to also get some medi-packs for the team and himself, he patched them up before they headed off. Wrex wasn't too happy about how the UCAF administered the regenerative fluids, but it was better than lugging around his wounds. Aria didn't bother as she had medi-gel in her suit to help her.

The team went through the arcade and to the west length of the district, they had to pass through a few shops and then they'd arrive at the last known location of the 15th regiment of the Shanxi Marauders. Shepard didn't need any damn reminders about his past life, but it seemed that fate wanted to piss with him, the whole damn war he had seen something chasing after him, why?

He never got to ponder the question long enough, a shout of static came over their coms, it wasn't frantic, but very pissed.  
>"Come at me you fucking bug eyed freaks, I have plenty of guns. You want some? Come and get me!" A chortle of insane laughter followed and the transmission cut.<p>

Shepard noticed that the radar interference was at its highest, they had definitely found their jammers, Shepard drew his titan out and began to edge his way over to the exit of the mall that they were in. The sounds of gunfire were coming from the top exit on the second landing, he jogged from cover and hit the wall, he signalled for the others to hurry and they did so, they ended up just outside the exit where the mall reached into the lower levels of the district.

Gunfire was intense outside, and explosions shortly followed, Shepard went outside first to analyse the situation. What he came upon was a bit surprising.  
>A marine fired with a heavy M50 Vulcan chain gun mounted at the top of a wall, he was shooting into a whole load of collectors and screaming at the top of his lungs. The Vulcan continued to spray deadly munitions at a terrifying rate; the marine on Shepard's ID indicated a man named Zaeed Massani, Sargent Major of the Shanxi Marauders.<p>

The sergeant fired onwards and then moved the heavy mounted weapon from its place and began turning his attention of the collectors over to his left. Marines of the Shanxi regiment were here alright, but it seemed that Zaeed and only 2 fire teams was all that was left active against the collectors presently attacking.

Shepard motioned for the team to follow and called to Zaeed.  
>"Sargent Major, this is Colonel Shepard, respond."<p>

"I hear you Shepard; I'm having a bit of a problem down here. So hurry your ass down, we need to take out those fucking jammers for my men." Zaeed replied.

Shepard could tell that the Major hadn't lost his head yet, they arrived on the lower level where the sergeant was continuing his rampage of death with his Vulcan. He smiled as the colonel appeared with his team.  
>"Good to finally meet you Colonel, heard about your past service with our brothers on the port, you damn earned my respect." The sergeant said while still firing.<p>

"Good to know that someone remembers me, what's the situation?" He asked.

"There were 3 jammers here and then the collectors started to dump shitloads of their troops on our heads once we managed to destroy one of them, we know that the other two are located just beyond the corner of that complex of shops. The damn bugs keep on reinforcing their troops, it's near impossible to break through without being swarmed, unless you have a ton of explosives." He explained.

"No sorry we just used the last of our fusion packs taking out a ship sized squid machine on the higher level. Maybe Shepard can just make a witty gimmick which might make them all have seizures." Aria suggested.

The colonel eyed her with annoyance and she smirked.  
>"How about we try breaking the deadlock? I'll call in some help from here." Shepard said.<p>

He tossed down a marker and called in for another weapon drop, he made sure to mark it for a heavy weapons drop. In moments a UCAF gunship under some moderate fire quickly dumped a crate down where their position was. Aria commented at the speed of the delivery.  
>"How is that they managed to appear every time you hit that marker?"<p>

"Science, 'snort' 'snort'…" Shepard replied sarcastically.

The weapons drop crate had a side switch which Shepard hit; the crate opened up and revealed its contents, a ton of heavy grade weapons, literally. The crate held a few pretty big guns, 2 heavy Raptor class machine guns, 4 rippers, 2 Tomahawk Guided Multi-lateral missiles, 4 Spartan lasers, with 1 fusion lance and 4 anti-tank Buster rifles.

"Take your pick." Shepard said to his teammates.

Wrex shrugged.  
>"I don't need heavy weapons."<p>

Shepard pulled out a Buster and a few ammo drums, the buster would do well for him against armoured opponents. Zaeed dropped the heavy Vulcan and went for a dig in the pile; he pulled out what he needed a raptor and one tomahawk. That was all he would require in a fight. The marauder smiled and said.  
>"Looks like Christmas just came early."<p>

"Don't get carried away Massani, and aren't you supposed to remain with your marines?" Shepard asked.

"No, I'm an independent; I just got caught up with the marines while doing my own thing, and besides you look like you could need another hand." Zaeed replied happily.

"Fine, but you stay under my command, do you understand?" Shepard asked.

"Perfectly clear sir, just one thing." He replied.

"What?"

"Call me Helldog."

XXXXX

The team departed from the top of the balcony down to the troops below, the collectors were still heavy in number but that changed when Shepard and his team made their attack. Shepard suppressed fire with his AR while Wrex close distance to engage in close combat, Aria sent a shockwave as well to help the krogan deal with the collectors. Zaeed was ripping into the collectors with his ripper and stabbing them along the way.

Shepard was impressed by Helldog, Massani was a familiar name, due to the past records at Shanxi, he was a veteran of the war on Callistan and was there fighting covies with knives and axes, he had one of the most famous records of kills from the war, taking on 4 commanders and a grand master of an elite strike force. He was the bravest and hell bent psycho in the field during the end of the war, but he was damn good to have around.

The veteran ripped his way through another drone with his knife and then blasted another collector with his MG, his complexion was righteous fury mixed in with contorted rage. He hacked and killed like it was a game, to him it was probably second nature, and he was called Helldog for a reason. The marine tore his way through to the end of the collector's numbers and pushed around the right flank on his own.

They gathered once more as they made their move against the collector's jammers around the corner. The bug eyed drones jumped to action by spraying them with concentrate fire, and particle rifles, heavy beam projections sawed through the ground and cover, but the team waited for the pause every so often to take the gunners out.

Aria sent down lift and levitated a squad of collectors for the team to wipe out, once eliminating the collector guards they came face to face with what they were after. A large 6 legged monster with a bulbous back and an eyeless face, it glowed as it began to send out occasional blasts of scrambler fields. The jammer reared up and let loose a blast of bluish excretion that smacked into the squad.

Aria gagged and said.  
>"That's wrong on so many levels."<p>

"Ugh, this is why I hate bugs." Zaeed hissed.

"Let's complain after we killed the 6 legged freak of nature okay?" Shepard said with annoyance.

They got back to it and fired on the jammer; Shepard removed his Buster rifle and began to hammer the monstrous creation. The HEAT shells blew out chunks of flesh and matter from the jammer until it finally died and exploded in a pile of blue blood and oil like excretions, the team had to hold their breaths after a bit.

"What the hell are these things made of, shit?" Zaeed asked candidly.

Wrex grunted.  
>"Probably."<p>

They hadn't finished with the jammer yet, the last one was just around the bend, and it wasn't as happy that its friend had just been butchered by Shepard and his squad. They made their way to the next part of the complex, but taking the stairs to the second level to get higher ground. When they arrived at the second jammer, it looked like the same, but the only difference was that the collectors had added a bunch of aerial guards.

The flying gun drones lay down suppressive fire at Shepard and his team, they retaliated with their own weapons. They managed to remove a few of the pests, but more came from overhead and landed down in the boxy area where the jammer was, they were trying to slow Shepard from taking out their jammers.

Shepard signalled to Zaeed to take the shot instead of him. Zaeed happily obliged the colonel and removed his tomahawk. He ran out from his cover and pulled a collector over to him and rammed his knife into its face, he then proceeded to jump over the dead collector and smack the face of another with the end of the missile launcher and completely cave in its face.

"Who wants a piece of hell?" He shouted as he rushed the collectors in his mad dash to getting his better aim.

After killing another pair of unfortunate drones who happened to be in his way, the marauder took the shot directly above the jammer. He let loose a single missile and watched it go right through its head; the explosion that followed sent the viscera as high as the level where Shepard and the others were patiently waiting.

The explosion cleared away and the remains of the collector's jammer twitched in a messy pile at the bottom of the complex. Zaeed smiled and cheered.  
>"Well that's another nice mess for me, what's left?"<p>

XXXXX

The team returned to the plaza where the marines were waiting, they had gathered up for evac, but the colonel still had a lot left to do, such as clearing up the east and south east districts of the port of collectors and then pushing up to the north to help Matthew reclaim the northern section of the port, and then they'd go and regroup with the marines down the level.

As the Aires came along, it hovered about, Wrex asked.  
>"So, what is your plan Shepard?"<p>

"Easy, we go in and kill everything that's collector and then get those marines out from there, aside from that, we are going to travel, in style." He announced.

The team was curious until the Aries released the cargo it was carrying, a large 4 wheeled car, with black chrome finish and a nice sturdy look landed and beeped.  
>"This is the FAV Black Betty, she's our ride."<p>

Aria commented.  
>"Why isn't it like a puma?"<p>

"A what?" Zaeed perplexed.

XXXXX

(Okay so, now let's see, we still have fair ways to go on Shepard' story, he needs to go save the remaining marines, regroup with the last 2 members of his command team, and then get to go and destroy that collector vessel somehow… and then afterwards we need to go and deal with the location of Saren and his buddies bases.)

That sums it up, and also I just heard the news about Kim Jong IL, he's finally dead, but I have this bad feeling that something is going to happen like Homefront, you know the game? If not then meh, it happens.


	18. Chapter 18

CH18

XXXXX

Gone to knock a little harder…

XXXXX

28 years earlier…

The smell of the ocean was a sensation that he indulged upon every day of his life, the salty air becoming a familiar scent which he loved. Joseph had never lost the memories of this place, the place he called home. He jogged from the edge of the cliff down to his home, upon opening the door he shouted.

"Mum, I'm home!" The child said in blissful happiness.

A woman with deep raven hair appeared and greeted him; he ran up and hugged her.  
>"Oh Joseph, that's good… come on let's get you cleaned up, dinner is almost ready." She replied with a warm smile.<p>

The boy smiled back and headed off to his room to change and then wash up. Joseph could always remember what life had been life before his devotion to the UCAF. It was simple it was beautiful it was everything to him…

The scene changed from the home to his time with his mother and where they were during winter, the Christmas holidays. His time during summer, mum took him to his father's grave in autumn, the songs that they sang during spring. He could see the untarnished beauty of his life pass in such sequences and so quickly.

The last of all of his happiness was when he saw the beauty of the night skies. He remembered lying on the grassy knoll outside of his home with his mum; he stared out the night skies.  
>"Mum, one day, I'm going to go to the stars, so I can be like dad, I want to be like him, and so I can protect you. I promise."<p>

His mother stared at his statement as though everything was shattering around her, but she knew better than to burst that bubble of innocence that he held in his mind, he shouldn't know the terrors of the war being fought.  
>"One day Joseph."<p>

His chance came only 1 year later when the colony finally detected a subspace signal from a buoy, the colonial defence force began to evacuate the people, but the warning came too late for the people living along the coast. Joseph and his mother rushed into a fallout bunker with the thousands of other people caught up within the war.

He remembered the smell of blood and ash, the smoke choked the bunker when the doors were open, and the marines shouted in constant screams about the covenant. It was then that a covenant force broke through and managed to reach the bunker where he and the people were sheltering, the covenant began to mercilessly exterminate the helpless people inside.

He could remember the screams of the people, all women children, some young males and some others, all died the same manner, being shot or stabbed by energy weapons. The ozone filled the room with noxious fumes, he could remember that last feeling of warmth that his mother had, and then she looked at him with a sad smile.

"Don't look Joseph; or you might never be able to look away." An energy blade went through her torso and then she dropped to the ground without another word.

Joseph held himself in shock for the moment, staring at the now corpse that was once his mother. He never paid close enough attention to the elite who came closer with his scarlet blade. And then he snapped, in fury he grabbed a pistol from a dead marine and took aim, 'don't look Joseph, or you won't be able to look away'. He grasped the pistol in both his hands and pulled the trigger.

The air was permeated by another pause as the shield of the elite blocked the bullets. The elite proceeded to chuckle at Joseph's futile defiance, he raised his plasma carbine to finish the child. His eyes were level to the young child; Joseph could see little remorse in the eyes of such a being. However the elite was never able to fire, a blast came from behind it and sent the creature sprawling on the ground with a smoking hole in its chest cavity.

Joseph was smeared in the blood of the alien, but he only seemed to stare into the light that now penetrated the darkness of the room, a tall armoured figure in pastel armour with glowing eyes stared at him.

It spoke in a calm and unnerving tone.  
>"…Come with me if you wish to live."<p>

He held his hand out, and the hand of the armoured warrior grasped his. It felt warm; it felt that he knew what would come next. He'd never look back.

XXXXX

Present Time

Joseph grasped his rifle and aimed at the apparition.  
>"You aren't real, you can't be."<p>

"I know Joseph, but listen to me; this place is where we belong, together again." His mother smiled.

"You know, you're a bad liar, one thing mother told me, 'don't look back'." He replied.

In one swift motion, his AR zipped up and fired in a heavy burst at the apparition, the shadow screamed and vanished in seconds screaming.  
><strong>"No, you will make us whole again, Joseph!"<strong>

Joseph turned his attention to the core, its outer layer had shattered and splintered to reveal the glowing orb that was the core of the reaper. He fired at the core without pause, sending a torrent of AR fire at the heart of the damned machine, the reaper shuddered with each impact screaming and wailing at the pain of the Spartan's attack.

Joseph was knocked down as the core sealed once more, and his mother appeared again, she had brought some friends this time, a group of twisted husks and combat forms, they screamed as they ran at him. Joseph took the battle in stride, kicking and shattering the bodies of the husks with ease; the Spartan wasn't going down as easily from a bunch of moving corpses.

He delivered a constant burst of fire at the forms until none remained standing, and then aimed once more at the apparition of his mother, she screamed to him.  
><strong>"We will not die again!"<strong>

"You're already dead; now stay in my memories where you belong!" He retorted in fury.

He delivered another stream of gunfire at the apparition until it collapsed into a burst of ash and smoke, the reaper shuddered even more violently, but Joseph was determined to kill the fucker. The core opened once more, but started to bring in more husks to slow the Spartan. Joseph removed a grenade attachment and fired it into the core; it burst apart and ripped into the core with ease.

The shuddering increased and then the reaper began to slowly warp around him, it was wounded badly alright and he only had to deal with it once more and then the reaper would probably die or explode, or something to get him the hell out of its mind. He dodged swings and blows delivered by the husks, and then jumped and rolled to get around the edge of the twisted plane of reality he was in.

But when he ran forward he was grasped by something, the apparition had appeared once more this time close enough to hold him, and his mother began to strangle him. The apparition was furious with glowing eyes and bloodied matted hair, she screamed at him with contorted rage.  
><strong>"You will be part of us Joseph!"<strong>

He never expected the apparition to that strong; it grasped him until he brought his head and smashed into the face of the apparition, the ghost seemed to drop him in pain and then he brought his rifle about and fired into the figure on full auto. His mother screamed and wailed and then vanished in a puff of smoke once more.

"Like hell I will!" He shouted back.

The core opened up once more, he fired into the core without pause, the rifle fire blasting away at the core, the reaper screamed and shuddered, he felt the convulsions as the whole machine began to spasm from the overload of damage. The core overloaded and began to explode, Joseph felt light from above him. It was calling to him.

XXXXX

Joseph felt the hand of the Arbiter grab him and yell.  
>"We must make haste, the abomination is dying."<p>

Joseph could see the light around him turn a corona of white and blue, he could tell that his efforts had helped in destroying the machine, which was slightly confusing as to how he managed to destroy it from within his mind. But he decided not to ask, his body ached from the encounter with the apparition, it seemed so real.

"Forwards, jump to the gunship!" Arbiter shouted.

Joseph felt his legs finally return, he could see their ride, a phantom gunship, there were about 6 others circling the reaper, they suppressed the reapers forces with their plasma cannons and pulse turrets. Joseph staggered forwards as the Arbiter covered him; he jogged and then made a steady sprint to the gunship, he jumped and landed on the edge of the boarding ramp. The Arbiter jumped and landed next to him and helped him up.

"An effective means of challenging the abomination Spartan, however I must advise that you must never do that again." Arbiter commented as they lifted off.

"What do you mean?" Joseph asked.

"I could feel the mind of the reaper boring into your own, it was a strange scene, and you remained stock still until the reaper's core suddenly erupted." The Arbiter explained.

The gunship gained altitude as the reaper suddenly exploded in an aura of red, the explosion was immense, but it made its point, the reaper had just gone down and the Peak was in sight. They had their window of opportunity, they needed to get into the complex and finally finish what they had come after. The files and the information on the flood, but also Saren's contacts and his whereabouts, the UCAF needed to find the evidence to deal with the damned turian and his plans.

The phantom gunship landed down at the outside of the Peak 15 complex, it dropped down with 3 other gunships, as Joseph and the Arbiter disembarked they were greeted by Joseph's team. Rana ran over to him and hugged the Spartan. Arbiter and his second in command, Commander Rtas' looked at the pair for a bit in surprise, they hadn't expected that.

The marines in Joseph's team chuckled at the heart warming scene, they weren't the ones for those kinds of romances, and they decided to wait for the 2 to finish before continuing the mission. Joseph was thoroughly surprised at the sudden hug from Rana; he hadn't known she had that kind of an emotion for him. And to be honest, he had not a clue as to what a relationship was…  
>"Rana?" He asked.<p>

Rana let go looking a bit embarrassed.  
>"Sorry about that, it's just that I was worried for you…" She said sheepishly.<p>

"That's understandable, but I think it would be better if we had this kind of talk later." He replied.

The asari nodded and asked.  
>"What happened in there?"<p>

"Nothing you should worry yourself about, just some ghosts I needed to deal with. What's the situation here?" He asked.

Rana turned about and pointed out the large complex which was Peak 15.  
>"The base is separated into 3 sectors, one is the general complex, mostly housing and general facilities, second sector is the power grid, the main core is down there with the controls to the hub, and the third sector is the rest of the facility, it's the hot labs where the research and development is located. We don't know what's inside though."<p>

"We'll figure it out soon enough." Joseph replied.

Rana nodded, she kind of felt a bit unsure about what seemed to be the problem, she was happy that Joseph was back, but he seemed a bit troubled. She decided that the encounter with the reaper was probably more taxing than what he showed. They still had a mission to deal with and she was sure that he was trying to avoid showing his fatigue.

They headed off to join the team once more, the Arbiter and Rtas joined them at the entrance to the facility. He asked.  
>"What is it that the UCAF are after here?"<p>

Joseph knew that some information was confidential to the covenant, but not this time, the Arbiter himself was present.  
>"The UCAF is attempting to locate the information that the council's forces might have gathered here, the consolation of intel is dangerous in part due to the experiments that the council has been conducting, and of course they had never expected that the flood could out think them. The flood being loose wasn't part of their plan, but now we have to deal with them and retrieve the information."<p>

"That is easier said than done warrior, the flood scales the complex walls, and defend it from all positions, they are determined to not let anyone though to the complex." Rtas commented.

"We wouldn't need to get any more help from the outside, we only need a couple of teams to get inside and retrieve the information, whatever the flood intend to do will be irrelevant once we get our hands of the info, the Peak is set to be destroyed once we clear out, or if we die." Joseph explained.

The team understood. There was no failure in the mission, they needed to do this by the book, and done at all costs. The team moved out, their boots and feet crunching the snow beneath them, they headed into the main entrance, a massive set of doors remained frozen shut. A small panel remained open on the side of the doors; Joseph accessed the panel and then hacked it.

The doors screamed to life once he successfully found the correct codes, the doors slid roared to life and opened, the elites were the first to enter, their plasma weapons drawn scanning for anything that would be a threat. The marines followed in behind them and Joseph followed behind the Arbiter, they entered into the main garage, it was dark and damp.

"Jeez what's that smell?" Jason commented.

They couldn't see much, the lights were dead, with the emergency lighting active, the area was alit in deep blood red, and no one could tell if the ground was covered in blood or if the lighting was just making it look that way. Joseph called to Taylor.  
>"Jason, get to the control panel over on the other side of the room and see if you can access the lights."<p>

"Yes sir." Jason replied.

The team continued on and up to a stair case with a ramp to the walkway above, they arrived at a pair of solid doors, they also were shut, but they required power. Jason called back.  
>"Sir, power nodes are all fried, it'll take some time to rig this thing."<p>

"Don't worry about it, just get back here, I've got a plan." Joseph replied.

Jason acknowledged and returned. Joseph pulled out a fission battery pack from his emergency power pack and gave it to Jason.  
>"Rig it directly to the door, that'll open them, don't worry about the whole facility."<p>

"Right sir." Jason complied.

The marine jacked into the port of the door power and in moments the two doors slowly opened, a hiss of decompression followed as the inside of the corridor had been vacuum sealed. When they walked into the corridor, they weren't surprised at what they found. Bodies, a lot of bodies, it seemed that the emergency protocol was enacted and sealed all the workers inside the corridor and then suffocated them to death.

"The reclusive art of silent murder, council style." Joseph commented.

"What the hell happened?" Jason asked.

"When the flood broke loose the system must have enacted an emergency protocol to eliminate any survivors, this is why I don't want you accessing the main power to the facility. Whatever the council planned for, it would probably try to kill us, and also, if there was a containment program, it probably went down when the power was shut off." Joseph replied.

"But who shut off the power?" Rana inquired.

"Only those who have authority." The Arbiter replied with disgust.

The Arbiter had a deep anger towards the council's decision to start investigating into the flood, it had cost lives, and it would get them nowhere, the centuries to millennia the covenant had done all it could to defend the galaxy from the threat of the flood and now the council believed that it had the authority do such things. It made him furious, but he understood that they hadn't ever experienced the flood in their lifetimes.

They continued down the corridor until they reached another level, they needed to head to the second section of the Peak 15 complex, it was where the research was being stored, they needed that to complete the mission, and also figure out what was going on that released the flood. They arrived down at the level of the general quarters; it had a high risk factor if the flood was active inside the facility.

Joseph activated the inferno setting on his AR carbine, the rest of the squad followed suit and made sure to keep their eyes on the walls and the ceilings. Opening the doors they found what was on the other side, an empty room, the area was void of bodies, no sign of anyone being present in the living quarters. It seemed that the flood had ignored the general living quarters, which made it very strange.

"What's going on?" One marine asked.

"Not a clue, but this is the living quarters of the facility staff, where is everyone?" Joseph asked himself.

They proceeded into the rooms and found themselves inside a proverbial ghost town, every cubicle room was empty, the Arbiter and the Spec Ops commander took their team on the right hand side of the marines, and they proceeded onwards until reaching the middle of the living quarters. That was when they ran into something; Jason halted the team as he found a cubicle that wasn't open.

Jason checked the door and opened it, what he found wasn't pretty.  
>"Holy- shit." He gaged.<p>

"What did you find?" Joseph asked.

5 bodies were supposed to be there, but it wasn't 5 anymore, there was just a mess of bodies completely ripped open from the sternum down, all had been alive when they were killed. And now all were compressed with their rib cages splayed over the ground, all had been fused by a mess of biological machinery.

"What the hell?" Jason commented as he backed out.

"Looks like the reapers got here first, but that doesn't…" Joseph never finished the end of that sentence.

A tremendous wailing came from all around, screaming and shouting of a thousand voices, all wailing in pain or panic, but one thing was for sure, they were coming closer. Joseph yelled.  
>"We need to move now!"<p>

The team complied and bolted after him, the elites chased behind them with equal speed, they rushed to the end of the living quarters to the exit to the next level. As they ran down the corridors to the other side, the sounds of the abominations grew closer, they could see some of them popping up from certain cubicles and others falling from the vents and parts of the ceiling.

"How in the fuck are there so many?" Jason yelled.

"Why don't you go ask them?" Pvt Josh yelled.

They rushed into exit to the next level, sealing the door behind them. They seemed to relax just for a bit, they had just run through a horror show of flood and managed to survive, sure that was a damn achievement of the year. They ended up on the other side, but it was doubtful that they could be able to use the same way to get out.

"Okay, so where's the next section to the other side of the complex?" Joseph asked.

"Just beyond this section and we'll end up at the station to the joining part of the facility, but sir I need to warn you that once we're there we need access the computer systems and unlock the trams to power up the link for the station so we can get across." Jason explained.

"I can deal with that in a few minutes." The resident hacker stated.

"Good get to work, the rest of us will make a perimeter, and we need to keep the area secure until we're ready." Joseph ordered the rest of the squad.

"We shall follow suit." Arbiter added.

They formed a perimeter around the tram that they were at, the flood and the husks yet to appear, it seemed strange, but Joseph could tell that there was something else, like a familiar scent. Had Uri come as well? He didn't know but he could feel something familiar. There was an echo of something in his mind, he couldn't pin point it, but it was itching, like a bad ache.

"Joseph, are you alright?" Rana asked concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied clearly.

"Well you sure aren't acting it; you've been acting colder since you were inside that reaper, what exactly happened?" She asked.

"I met my mother." He replied.

The time passed since the two spoke, and then the tram was ready. Jason announced. "We're live, let's get going."

Joseph and the squad got onto the tram with the Arbiter and the elites; they all departed from the station shortly. The trip into the tunnel was quiet, at least until something caught the attention of Jason.  
>"What the hell?" He whispered.<p>

His eyes squinted as he focused on a shadowy figure climbing the walls of the tunnel, it seemed human in shape, but then as the tram passed closer he could see it more, it had black corroded skin and looked more like a tree than a living being. He hadn't a chance to call and ask the others if they could see something as a massive claw ripped into the roof of the tram where he was.

Jason narrowly dodged it and screamed.  
>"Holy shit!"<p>

The tram became an activity of gunfire as the teams began to shoot the ceiling, the screams of a being screamed as it finally died; it fell off the side of the tram. Joseph then heard the screams of beings from all around them.  
>"We've got a lot of company."<p>

The teams quickly spilt up to cover all the windows; they activated their flashlights and visors to see what was below. Joseph could see hundreds of pure flood stalkers and some newer variants of vanguards. He brought his rifle up and began to fire into the enemy numbers.  
>"Keep them off from the tram until we reach the station!" He yelled.<p>

The others acknowledged and began firing in unison, bullets and plasma picked off the flood as they scaled the walls to them. It was going well, up until something came along. The front and sides of the tram were suddenly pelted by phosphoric rounds fired by the ranged flood pods. Jason and Josh pulled out DMRs and began to fire at the ranged forms.

"How much longer until we reach the station?" Arbiter asked.

"About another 2 minutes…" Jason called back.

Another wave of flood forms burst forwards and latched to the sides of the tram as they began to rip into the outer plating. Rana smacked one with her biotics and sent another flying back down. The marines fired at point blank into the flood forms; sadly one marine was caught from behind by a flood form. It fired a 5 foot phosphoric spear, the marine was speared through his chest, the spear then ignited and exploded, and the marine was incinerated by the intense energy.

"Oh fuck, Remi!" Josh shouted.

The elites stabbed the flood stalker responsible and then went back to firing; Josh collected the tags of what remained of Remi. The tram reached the final stretch to the station, the team continued to fire up until the doors opened. They piled out and ran for the doors of the facility; they strafed a number of flood forms along the way.

Upon reaching the door they entered into an empty decontamination airlock, the doors opened to the other side and then they exited. Joseph waited as the team caught their breath. Arbiter examined his squad. They counted for the remaining team members, missions were expected to be tough. This was no exception; losses were bound to occur for suicide missions like these.

Joseph knew better than to say anything now. The marines knew better than to keep thinking about fellow dead marines, everyone's lost someone they've known, better not to ponder about them and to just keep going. Once they all caught their breaths they headed onwards. Jason took point for the squad.

They negated their way through the first labs, but found that many of the labs were empty. There wasn't anyone here, which also reminded them of the living quarters, they were bound to run into something soon enough. They turned around another bend to a set of lifts, Joseph brought out the map of where the team needed to go.

"Okay, so there's 2 positions, the main labs and the research and development section of the facility, the labs and the research bay are closely linked so it wouldn't be hard to just go through both. There's an adjoining tunnel for both. We should get the research data before heading into the labs; we don't know what we might encounter." He finished.

"Very well, we shall accompany you there." Arbiter stated.

They entered into the lifts and headed down to the labs, upon the lifts reaching the lab level the teams came out in a professional manner, spreading out to cover their entrance. They found the area void of any contacts; it seemed that the labs were still locked down. They travelled onwards, Josh and Jason taking point as they moved, the distance to the research section was straight ahead.

They passed through the corridors until they found the inhabitants, the few researchers were dead outside their labs and the main research section, but the only thing was.  
>"Sir, they've been shot." Jason examined the bodies.<p>

Joseph could see that as well, each body had been shot through the back of the head or been completed riddled with rounds, this couldn't have been done by the flood or the reapers, they both absorbed or ripped their targets to pieces, not shot them with precision weapons. This was done by professionals, or possibly just one professional.

"Let's get into the research sector, we need that info." Joseph ordered.

The team understood and continued onwards, they entered into the sector. The room was still intact, well mostly intact; bodies of the council scientists and researchers were scattered everywhere. The team located the terminals to access the records of the council, they had the files on what had happened.

"Okay, I'll begin the transfer." Joseph commented as he linked the terminal to his neural card.

He began to flow through the flood of data and sort them out in his mind. He made sure to locate each source and made sure to search for links, to ensure that the UCAF could locate the conspirators within the project. He found thousands of names and some of them lead to the heights of the council itself.

But what he found next shocked him. It was a black file, Code: UNSCMID 03669271. That was Admiral Parangosky, the director of the UNSC ONI, she was part of this? But that made no sense, when did she get involved with the reapers, as a matter of fact when did she ever get involved with the UCAF? She hadn't left the UNSC regions of space, which meant. There was more to this than Joseph liked, he had to add this to the main memory banks of his neural card.

But his curiosity got to him; he delved deeper into the records of the UNSC ONI Director.  
>Recorded Interactions:<p>

File32:  
>The UCAF sector command has provided the details of the Warden system to the UNSC; I do hope that this minor transaction is worth the effort. You'll find specimen No.234 in the depths of the quarantine world on these coordinates: 342-4496. The UCAF do not monitor the sector ever 4 weeks during a mandatory change, you can access the region in March while the UCAF are busy fighting the council forces.<p>

File46: UCAF Munitions schematic: 2244- Ion Shell dispersal variant 3. The early development type of the UCAFs early anti-shield ammo, this will aid you in creating a basic anti-shield based weapon, but I expect that you'll adapt it to suit your own weapons? It doesn't matter to me, as long as you hold your end of the bargain.

The files scatter after the 3 transmission. It seemed that the admiral had more to answer for than just a few transmissions, she was betraying the UCAF and the UNSC, and hell she was betraying the entire human race. Joseph was in mute anger; this betrayal at the hands of the commanders of the military was giving away secrets of the UCAF and the rest of the UNSC to the enemy.

It would have taken decades for the council to ever successfully develop a variation of the UCAF ion round if the secret had been kept, but now they could easily catch up with the UCAF in less than a decade. The UCAF would be facing enemies with weapons that could nearly match their own.

He downloaded the remainder of the recorded files and exited from the database. He found that the team was waiting for him patiently. He then announced.  
>"I have the records, we just need to find out what the damn council's been up to and then we can go."<p>

They headed out from the research bay and to the labs, the door leading to it was unlocked and upon entering into the corridor they noticed how void it was with any traces of the flood. They entered into the main labs and found what exactly they were after. The lab was empty, only the hum of machines and computers, with one massive containment cubicle near the middle of the room.

They walked up the stairs to the cubicle and found what the council had been so determined to hide and what the reapers were trying to get their hands on. It made even the arbiter pause and pray.  
>"Merciful Forerunners."<p>

They had come upon a large figure contained inside the cubicle; the cubicle was surrounded by a mass of containment shields that kept the figure sealed inside. The being itself was a massive white and grey skinned alien, of sorts; Joseph couldn't tell the physique due to its figure, it wasn't something he encountered before. He could see that it was once humanoid, it had arms and legs, but seemed to be rooted to the ground by a massive stalk, and it was only when it woke up that they found out that it wasn't a stalk.

The creature's eyes opened and began to observe them carefully and slowly. It then spoke to them directly.  
>"You have come here, <strong>why<strong>?" It asked with a smooth tone and ended with a deep warning.

Joseph could feel its presence, it was the one he could feel from back at the tram, and as a matter of fact he could feel the presence from over the whole facility. He answered.  
>"We were looking for information upon the turian known as Saren Arterius, and his relation to the reapers."<p>

"**Reapers**…" The entity hissed.

"You know of the reapers?" He inquired.

"Know of them? I have encountered them before. During eons millennia passed, maybe eons. Living in eternal trance with the heavens has been daunting, it has severed my connection with the living for too long, but I know of what you speak." It replied in a smooth feminine voice.

"So you know of the reasons as to what the reapers are after?" Joseph asked.

"Yes, but that is another story, one that would require for us to merge as one child of flesh. The reapers in the most vocal form I may express, are the abomination of life, and the corruption of innocence, they prey upon those who are ignorant and attempt to use their trap in order to harvest their trophies. Not that I am implying that they regard your kind as such, however their motives are quite clear, the elimination of your kind are their wish." It replied.

"So, how do you know of the reapers?" Joseph inquired.

"Is it not obvious? The reapers have eliminated my kind many millennia before, however they had failed to eliminate me, I am harder to destroy than most of my kind, and I serve the purpose of hiding and watching. And as such I have remained hidden for so long child." It answered clearly.

Joseph felt that he knew this being from somewhere.  
>"Who are you, and why do you keep referring to me as such?" He asked.<p>

There was a pause before it answered.  
>"We have, met, before many years ago, you may not remember me, but we once knew each other. At least a part of me… Klein."<p>

That name, the very name that he failed to recall for so long, it was shocking for Joseph. He then remembered who once called him Klein. The only one who he had once held so highly in regards to the Chimera Project. The name of the file of the subject that they were after: No.234 Amanda.  
>"Spartan variant 234, Amanda, the failed unit." He recounted.<p>

The other were surprised as well, how did a human become an alien? Amanda answered that question herself.  
>"Ah, the Chimera Project. The apex of our understanding of the parasite, and the only means of ever defeating the parasitic creature that few had knowledge of, Joseph, it's been too long. What, 25 years has been too much on your memories? I was infected along with you, and then I failed."<p>

He replied in confusion.  
>"But you were killed. The project failed and then the ONI Commanders ordered your unit to be purged."<p>

"I survived Joseph, using whatever remained of my body to latch onto the others and combined my bio-mass into theirs and survived, partially. Dying wasn't in my forte and the commanders knew that. They took me from the program and then infused me into the being that you now see, I am the Overseer." She announced.

"So, it really is you, well that makes the three of us." He said with a sigh.

The others were confused at what he said, but a voice called from behind them.  
><strong>"Ah, so, you noticed me?" <strong>Uri said aloud.

The elites and the marines pointed their guns at Uri, who simply smiled.  
><strong>"You shouldn't point those at me. That's only if you think you can hit me." <strong>

"Abomination, you should know your place." Rtas hissed.

"**Tsk, tsk, and here I thought the elites were supposed to be honourable. Well I guess that's too much to ask, considering my condition."** Uri added as he then jumped from his position and landed on the ground next to Joseph.

Joseph didn't break eye contact from Amanda as he spoke to the former Spartan.  
>"You know Uri; you being here made me wonder. Why did you use me?"<p>

"**Getting here past the other flood controlled units wasn't easy, besides, it wasn't hard to follow you, and I have an offer to make for you."** Uri smiled dangerously.

Amanda knew of what the offer was.  
>"You want to let him join, so both of you can release me."<p>

"What?" Rana said in surprise.

The others were eying the two former Chimera candidates and the overseer carefully. The Arbiter was reaching for something behind him, he motioned for the other elites to be ready to flee, and the marines were doing the same. They knew when a Spartan was given an offer it was one either by force, or without force.

Joseph commented from his memory.  
>"The Overseer project was to create a finely designed flood overmind in order to ensure total control of the flood, and also use the flood against the covenant during the war. However the project as scrapped due to failure to locate a capable mind of doing so and also it would require 2 or more flood Overmind class Generals to ever complete the full transformation of the overseer."<p>

"**Right on brother, I intend to bring Amanda to full strength and then from here, we can build our own future, the control of the flood at our hands, and we will be able to leave all our sorrows behind, we can be free brother."** Uri said passionately.

"Freedom at what cost, our humanity?" He asked.

"**A small price to pay for the advancement of our kind**. Yes." Uri replied.

"Uri, you know what my answer will be, so how about this. 10 seconds." Joseph stated.

"**10 seconds till what?"** He perplexed.

"Till I kick your ass." Joseph replied at the end of the break.

The marines and the elites jumped back as the Spartans suddenly traded blows, Joseph twisted and brought his arm around and collided with Uri's hand, Uri blocked it just in time. Their eyes locked and then the battle began. Uri broke the deadlock and delivered a kick to Joseph's Torso. He parried the blow and grabbed the leg, then in a single motion snapped Uri's leg into an awkward angle and sent the corrupted Spartan over on his back.

But Uri wasn't out of the game, he jumped back and onto his feet, and then began to increase in energy, the area began to glow a phosphoric yellow. It illuminated the area enough that the team was nearly blinded. Then Joseph yelled.  
>"Get clear of here."<p>

They all complied, except the Arbiter; he had shields powerful enough to withstand the blast. As they all ducked into cover, the explosion came forward; a bright luminescent yellow fire engulfed the two in the battle and burned everything that it encompassed. The chemical blast eroded everything in a corrosive miasma.

It thankfully didn't cause much damage to the shields of the marines and the elites; they were fine from the blast. The miasma faded within moments and they were all back on their feet, they quickly went back up to observe what was happening. Joseph was deadlocked with Uri again, this time they were both trying to overcome their problem with a show of strength.

Joseph hadn't the immense strength of the flood corrupted version of his fellow, but he had skill. As Uri pushed him down, Joseph pulled backwards and then flung the corrupted over his head and into the wall. Uri dented the wall at high speeds, but recovered easily, he engaged Joseph once more and began to deliver heavy blows at the Spartan, and then they traded punches and kicks. But Uri had the upper hand; he altered one of the tendrils on his back and turned it into a sharpened spear, he began to spear at Joseph.

The Arbiter was trying to get into the fight but was waiting patiently, his hand behind his back. It wasn't until the fighting pair managed to get to the Arbiter that he then revealed his motive, Joseph took one blow to the chest and rolled backwards and then summersaulted over the Arbiter, who then in turn tossed an energy shuriken.

The shuriken was a 3 pronged dagger with all energy blades; the high velocity dagger embedded itself in the chest of Uri. Uri of course wasn't too fazed, up until the Arbiter brought his fist into the face of the distracted flood Spartan. Uri was flung onto his front; he slammed his fist into the floor and then got back up in a roll.  
><strong>"You'll pay for that in blood."<strong> He fumed.

"Prove it." Arbiter challenged.

The corrupted charged at the Arbiter, he transformed his arm into a massive blade and ran forwards at the Arbiter, intent on carving him into pieces. The massive blade swung across and missed and then into a reverse spin, the blade was just missing the arbiter by scant inches as Uri aggressively attacked. Arbiter soon ran out of space, and Uri speared forwards, but Vadam left his best counter for last.

A sharp snap and Uri's blade was halted by the Arbiter's energy sword. He grunted.  
>"Never underestimate me."<p>

Uri was knocked back in a heavy push, it wasn't far, considering that Uri still was a bit stronger than the Arbiter, but it was enough for Vadam to turn the tables around. He brought his energy sword down upon Uri and narrowly sliced across his torso. Years of combat experience was one thing that Vadam had at his disposal, and also his skill in sword play.

The two parried blows, Joseph on the other hand was taking his squad out of the combat zone with the elites, they returned to the main lifts where the hacker of the team was accessing the lifts.  
>"Sir what do you mean we need to get to the roof?" The Hacker asked as he ripped through the lift controls.<p>

"It means that pick up is the only option that's left for you all, I need to confront Uri, and I won't be coming back." Joseph stated as he pulled his neural card out.

The marines understood what was going on, and so did the elites, Protocol Martyrdom, he was going to martyr himself in order to deal with Uri. Rana wasn't as understanding to the traditions to the Spartan protocol and was arguing.  
>"You can't go; you've been with me since the day we met, why?" She asked.<p>

"It's because Uri will succeed if I don't stop him, and the Arbiter can't handle Uri, he's just too deadly, I'm going to stop him and slow him down the best as I can. But don't mourn me Rana, remember me for someone else, remember me for someone who you had known. But forget about me in time, I have to go, and I need to go."

"But why?" She asked once more.

"Because I need to die." He answered with a sad smile.

XXXXX

Arbiter held another blow from his abdomen, Uri was a damned sight harder to deal with now after one minute, and that was just a minute. The corrupted was stronger than he expected, another blow sent his shields into critical and his energy blades almost overheated from the expenditure. But as Uri closed the distance, he was interrupted.

Joseph appeared from his blind spot and slammed his fist across his jaw, Uri staggered and spit.  
><strong>"You're back, that's a nice, now can we finish where we left off?"<strong>

Joseph glanced across to the Arbiter and told him.  
>"The others wait for you at the lifts Arbiter; it's time for me to finish this."<p>

The elite nodded and headed off, he prayed that Joseph enjoyed the afterlife, for he had just signed his death. The departure of the elite left the Spartan and the fallen Spartan, they walked purposely by each other with Amanda watching over the two of them, she sensed what Joseph was going to do, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"I have five minutes." He announced.

"**And then we both burn in eternal hell."** Uri finished.

The two eyed each other and then clashed again; Joseph grabbed Uri's hand and then slammed his elbow into the face of Uri's. A swift roundhouse kick followed by a series of punches fractured the armour of Uri, but it wasn't enough. The corrupted rolled and then got back up, just before another series of blows could cripple him, he grabbed Joseph's arm and kneed him in the stomach and then flipped him unto his back.

Joseph rolled and avoided Uri's foot, which stomped where Joseph's head was moments before. Joseph managed to get to his feet once more and then parry another blow. The two danced with each other without pause, hitting and slamming each other with their strength. Their armour was dented and broken in places, and they seemed to ignore the fact that they were about to die in a fiery explosion.

Joseph hadn't any care for that, he knew what had to be done, what mother said.  
>"Don't look back…"<p>

He gritted his teeth and with renewed vigour, he began to deliver blows to Uri with little regard to how much strain he was putting on himself. Uri as pummelled from the beating, but his regenerative side kept him going, but the problem with Uri was that he fatigued when he regenerated, his body wouldn't last under the both regeneration and fighting, which became an obvious flaw.

Joseph brought his arm around Uri and began to smash his fist into his head. And he yelled.  
>"Why don't you just die?"<p>

Uri dropped to the ground exhausted, and Joseph dropped to the ground nearby, they had both over exerted themselves. The timer was finally reaching the count down, in 10 seconds, they and the rest of the Peak 15 complex would be gone, and then the rest of the planet would be glassed. He smiled at the thought. 'What a fitting end.' He thought.

XXXXX

Rana and the others were aboard a covenant phantom, they had left the planet in just 3 minutes, they'd just make it beyond the maximum limit of the blast, but what shook Rana was what Joseph had told her before he died. "Never lose this, for this is part of my life. It's my memories my emotions, my very existence before I became a Spartan, I want you to keep it safe until you reach the UCAF. It won't matter if I die like this, as a mortal, because I will live forever as a young child at heart, keep him safe. Keep my innocence safe, and be happy. For you saved my life."

She handled the card in her had ever so gently, as if it was everything to the galaxy to her. This was the life of Joseph Klein, Spartan Chimera- 109. Let me live and die. The last words he said before his world ended.


	19. Chapter 19

CH19

XXXXX

What is to pass, and what has passed…

XXXXX

Shepard felt the rush of the wind on his face as the earth erupted around him, the FAV Black Betty screeched to avoid incoming fire directed by 3 enemy gunners from sniper nests. Shepard had the unfortunate luck of being caught in the moment of explosions for some reason, and of course like Matano he managed to survive or avoid being plastered.

The FAV narrowly missed another cluster of shots from the nests where the collectors remained concealed from the team. Zaeed on the M51 was blasting away whenever he could, but it didn't help the fact that they were still an open target running down the streets of Omega, Aria was navigating them to their next objective in the district. A UCAF marine convoy of APCs and tanks were held up by some collectors on the overhanging bridge near a junction near the edge of some docks near the east section of the station.

He and his team needed to clear them from that bridge to get the convoy into the depths of the station to begin a full clean-up of Omega, and also the reports from the troops had confirmed that the elements of the first recon had been caught on their own near the area and were cut off. Sgt Mikael was with the recon marines down in that region of the district.

Shepard was suddenly knocked into action as wide bursts of fire came raining down on the Betty as they turned into an intersection. They narrowly avoided the red high hyper velocity rounds as Shepard hit the accelerator; they weren't out of the proverbial forest yet. 2 large flying crabs came down on them; their arrival wasn't like that of the ones that Shepard had dealt with when he and the team were on the gunship.

The crab seemed much slower and took deliberate time to get into range of the team. It then fired in heavy bursts of particle fire and psychokinetic pulses. The first blue pulse of the kinesis knocked the warthog into a tail blaze as Shepard fought the wheel to keep the hog straight as they ran ahead of the crab. Zaeed fired into the crab without thinking, just screaming and shouting.  
>"Fuck you and all of you ugly looking freaks!" He shouted as the hog raced down through the streets.<p>

Shepard couldn't see any easy way out of the situation; the trip would either end with them crashing or the team having to walk the rest of the 1km trip with snipers and crabs swarming them. The problem however was soon dealt with, 3 heavy shots rang out in the streets and the 2 crabs were suddenly obliterated from the fire. The crab's carcases went flying ahead of the hog in chunks of cybernetic fluids and fleshy shreds.

Shepard didn't bother to look back at the carnage; he knew who fired those shots. It wasn't until Aria asked.  
>"What the hell was that?"<p>

"Executor rounds, HEAT shells, must have been about 1.5kms from our position." He replied.

"Well good to know that you've got insurance." Wrex muttered.

Zaeed only asked.  
>"Hey boss, how much farther to the target?"<p>

"Not far, about another klick or two." Shepard replied.

The Betty held through the streets as it raced onwards to the convoy, unknowingly the colonel hadn't realised that this path was going to lead him and his family down a course of danger to the end, one which would cost Shepard over 3 generations.

XXXXX

District No.52 Section 151

At the near bottom of the station, the collectors bustled with activity they carted off large crates of samples and pods, plenty of pods, and worked autonomously through the process. The battle above was meaningless, the blooded ones would never know of what was going on below. Their attention occupied with the distraction. But the collectors knew that time was of the essence, the herald needed the materials aboard Vespa, and she waited with patience as her workers did their work thoroughly.

There was nothing to be ignored; the great marker had to be moved, and its secrets taken into safe keeping from the eyes of the mortals. Vespa wouldn't risk it, the eons waiting in the darkness were enough for her, and she wanted to deal with the fledgling descendants as soon as possible, their presence here was already making her neural cortex pulse with rage. The planning had been so perfect, until the protheans sabotaged their plans, the galaxy had only been harvested once in the many eons since the fall of the forerunners and that was the protheans.

But now with the rise of the humans, it would be a gruelling battle to come for the harvest, but Vespa intended to find the weakness in the humans, and then she could begin the harvest. At that moment she felt a buzz from her general, she assumed control over his mind and heard of the events above, the reavers were ready.

On Vespa's command the new collectors were unleashed, they'd slow the human's progress down, and it would be enough for Vespa to finish her work here before departing. The humans could not be allowed to reach the marker before the artefact could be lifted. But unwittingly the reaper never knew of who was in the lead of the human's push.

XXXXX

Shepard hit the gas and drove the hog over a fallen vehicle and jumped the hog over a steep ditch where the road had been. The collectors had been determined to severe the UCAFs support off, but they didn't intend on the hogs being so agile for ground vehicles. The hog made the jump easy and landed on all fours; it reached the convoy in moments.

The marines over on the road where the collectors were hammering their position stayed in cover, ahead of the main convoy it seemed that there was a team of engineers trying to blow the bridge. Shepard halted the hog about 100ft from the convoy and exited from the hog. Aria asked.  
>"Aren't we supposed to drive up there?"<p>

Shepard replied.  
>"Yeah, but since we have enemy anti-armour guns, I think not taking a light armoured vehicle into a kill zone would be smart. Besides, what's wrong with walking?"<p>

"Nothing." Aria retorted.

Wrex hopped off and joined Matthew, who was busy dismounting a heavy machine gun, they gathered at the corner to the main convoy. Shepard called ahead.  
>"This is Colonel Daniel Shepard, we're moving from your rear; give us covering fire in 10 seconds."<p>

"Roger that, this Zulu we have you covered Colonel." A marine replied.

In 10 seconds the marines did as the colonel asked and fired for the team to make their way to the command APC at the middle of the convoy. Dozens of marines were pinned over the area trying to advance on the collectors. As the team reached the command APC the commander of the force greeted them.

"Sir, I see that you're in one piece, you need the good news or the really shitty news?" The commander asked.

"Give us the shitty news first." Shepard replied.

"Okay, the collectors have 6 jammers up there with a team of mortars raining fire on our asses and the artillery teams can't hit them because they're right out of range, and laser designators can't pin them because of interference caused by the jammers. Only good news is that a team of engineers are about to blow the shit out of the bridge where the infantry is located, and then we're going on full advance past the enemy fire." The commander explained.

"Well that sucks." Matthew commented.

"Agreed." Wrex muttered.

"So we're going into the centre of the district without any support from artillery and air support?" Shepard summarised.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it and we don't know the enemy strength in the district, it could be anywhere between, 1,000-10,000 and we'd never know." The commander stated.

"Well that's why we're here. We'll take point for the advance to the centre of the district." Shepard smiled.

"Wait, when was there a 'we'?" Aria asked.

"Just now." Shepard replied.

XXXXX

Shepard loaded his AR and fixed a laser sight on the end, he modified his TAC Pad and added a field range LIDAR, and he wasn't going with his sensors if the jammers were too close. He got back with the others and got them to the front of the convoy, they headed onwards through the hail of gunfire and particle fire until they reached the main position of the convoy.

"Why the hell are we doing this again?" Aria asked.

"Maybe because you asked for our help in the first place?" Daniel suggested.

"Right and getting into this is helping me how?" Aria asked.

"Well we're going into the middle of the district to where we can get a foot hold, and also I got an idea where we might be able to stop the flow of enemy reinforcements. If we get into the district then the collectors get forced back." He replied clearly.

Aria didn't like getting into these sorts of situations often, but since her entire empire was about to crumble from beneath her, what was there left to lose? She agreed.  
>"Fine, but you take point."<p>

"Alright, we're going in, and keep those damn bugs from hitting the wolverines; we're going to need them." Shepard warned.

They all nodded and then Shepard proceeded to take point. He ran from cover to the front of the convoy where a team of marines were waiting with a technician, he saluted them as he landed in the foxhole near the tech. He shouted.  
>"What's the status on the bridge?"<p>

A marine sergeant replied.  
>"We're nearly through, Jamie here's going to blow the bridge, are you taking point with us?"<p>

"Yeah, blow the bridge on my mark." He ordered.

The marine nodded and waited with the tech marine, the marine had removed a detonator from his pocket and primed the charges on the bridge supports. The collectors continued to fire in sporadic waves hitting the armour and shields of the troops. Shepard yelled.  
>"Fire in the hole!"<p>

The tech marine hit the detonator and collapsed the bridge that was overlooking their position, the bridge fell apart with any collectors which had been unable to fly from the sudden explosion and with them, and their jammers were wiped along with mortars. The marines didn't have time to cheer as the collectors began hammering them with waves of crabs, the flying gun platforms lay down heavy particle fire as the marines attempted to advance.

Shepard fired his AR carbine and let loose a 40mm to blow a chunk out of a crab, the blue fluids sprayed the earth as the crab's chitin hide erupted in a messy pile. Shepard pressed the attack with the marines, Zaeed was brining around his left flank, Matthew was on his right and Wrex and Aria were just behind him.

As they continued to advance from the highway the collectors seemed to slowly fall back, Shepard noticed that some were scattering to the centre of the district. His theories as to what the collectors were somewhat on mark, the collectors had something to defend and whatever it was, it warranted a lot of the collector's drones.

His thoughts were interrupted as a marine shouted.  
>"What the hell is that?"<p>

Shepard looked up to see something from above, the silhouette wasn't hard to distinguish, it was like another mini reaper, but this one didn't look like it was made for space, the shape of the limbs were wrong, it seemed more arachnid in form. The spider like machine landed about a few hundred meters from their position on a single engine (or turbine) at the bottom of its centre mass.

It landed with an almighty crash right in front of the troops advance. Shepard had a feeling that someone really wanted him dead. The dust from the landing blinded the marines for a bit, but as soon as the dust began to dissipate the form of the new reaper seemed rather surprising. The arachnid like walker was about 50ft tall and about 150 meters long, it was rather agile looking for a reaper as it sported a number of streamlined limbs, and the hull seemed more compact.

Shepard didn't waste any time.  
>"Wolverines lock target at the walker, fire for effect!" He yelled.<p>

The wolverines at the rear of the convoy obeyed and fired at the walker with their BGM-242 POWs, the Pod-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire command link, guided missile was a UNSC and UCAF standard heavy anti-tank and long ranged guidance missile system since the 24th century and had seen a long history of further development. The POWs were fired in a simultaneous barrage of 20 clusters from 2 pods on 3 wolverine S33 MAATs (Main Anti-Air Tanks).

The heavy missile barrage was airborne in seconds. From the tanks positions they didn't require to hit from laser designators as they were in visual range. The marines took to cover immediately as the sharp whines of missiles came overhead; Shepard dimmed his visor and observed how the UCAF fucked things up as usual.

The hail of missiles came right on the centre of the walker. The barrage mushroomed into an explosion that engulfed the walker; it seemed to bleach everything in white. Shepard couldn't see the reaper anymore amongst the sheer level of explosive fire and heat that was produced from the HEAT missiles. Those missiles had 11.7kg warheads, not to mention upgraded with plasma tipped warheads and TLGS, the missiles would have done a number on the walker.

And of course being as reproachful as they are, the reapers know how to be persistent. Shepard watched as the heat washed away to reveal a still mostly intact hull. Zaeed on his left cussed.  
>"What the fuck?"<p>

The reaper began to slowly stagger upright once more to a standing position, and then all hell broke loose. The reaper walker fired off 3 bursts of laser fire from the front guns and lanced the second APC in the convoy and ripped apart 2 hogs nearby. Shepard ducked as the vehicles exploded from the exposed force of the beams.

"Fucking hell…" Matt shouted as he ducked next to a scorpion.

"Shepard, it's getting really hot out here." Aria shouted over the coms.

"Tell me something I don't know…" He muttered.  
>"Get me a fusion lance team out here and any artillery fire on that walker, try to aim for the legs, at least we can still cripple the fucking thing." He ordered.<p>

The marines acknowledged and began to fire off a stream of heavy weapons and concentrated small arms at the legs of the reaper. Matthew produced 3 pulse grenades and lobbed them in quick succession with his speed; his aim was dead set accurate as they exploded on the limbs of the large walker. Shepard kept his sights trained on the walker as it staggered, it continued to fire upon the marines.

It was then a fusion lance was finally brought out from the rear, the team of heavy weapons experts manned the gun and loaded the fusion cells. The reaper walker didn't have time to analyse the team as they opened up with a single volley. The sharp ionisation of air came as the 2.1 meter gun fired from the team's position.

The lance struck the body of the reaper and cut a sharp hole, but it didn't end there, the marines had the beam slowly carve downwards through the body ripping away at the rest of the walker. The reaper's main gun no longer functioned from the sheer amount of damage it had taken from the lance. Shepard called upon the artillery teams to unload another volley upon the walker.

Rail tanks released hell once more this time with plenty of ion shells and HEAT rounds. The volume of fire put the stop of the walker for good this time, the internal super structure finally gave way and the walker crumbled from the damage. Staggering and stumbling about, it collapsed on the road of the highway that the marines were on.

Shepard took cover as it fell, the debris from the reaper scattered all around them as the core detonate, the explosion could be felt over the station, but the marines who had engaged remained unharmed from the collapse of the large walker. Shepard got from cover and ran through his command channel to the marines; all were fine, just shaken up from the battle.

Wrex popped out from debris which had landed on him, he shook the dust off and smirked at the wanton destruction caused. Aria came from behind the krogan and said.  
>"Well that was anti-climactic."<p>

Matthew jumped over from his position with Zaeed who was jeering at the wreck.  
>"Fuck yeah ya piece of shit! That's what you get with messing with marines."<p>

Matthew shrugged at the colonel about the conduct of Zaeed, but then again. This was Helldog Massani; he could practically do whatever he wanted. Shepard received a buzz from his com line.  
>"Sir this is Mikael, I'm stranded between on the other side of the wreckage." The sergeant called.<p>

"Good to hear you're alive Mikael, we're attempting to reach your position, can you give me an update into the situation you're in?" Shepard asked.

"Just about fucked as usual, the collectors are swarming the area at the moment; there's been heavy activity at the internal port of the district, it seems that the collectors have increased in some sort of move, whatever it is they're about to get whatever it is that they're after." Mikael replied.

Shepard knew that something was up, the reapers, the collectors, but something was missing, what was it? He combed his mind, but the answer wasn't there, he'd have to hold it till he got Mikael out of the pit he was in.  
>"Right, Mikael we're going to advance to your position soon enough, can you hold them off long enough for us to reach you?"<p>

A burst of gunfire and shouting roared over the coms, but the sergeant replied.  
>"Sir, we'll be waiting…"<p>

The com went off and Shepard looked back at the team.  
>"Okay, so it seems that now we're finally reaching our objective, whatever it is the collectors have decided to rip an internal port in the district, its close enough for the collectors to be shipping off a ton of things. But whatever they have, we need to know, we might not get another chance to get at Saren and the reapers." Shepard explained.<p>

"One problem Shepard, the fucking road just got blasted to shits, and the collectors are swarming around the other main roads in, how are we going to get through the fuckers in time?" Zaeed asked.

Shepard asked Aria.  
>"Aria, you know the station, do you know of any other routes into the district nearby without too much trouble?"<p>

The asari thoughtfully pondered. "Doubt that there's anywhere left, but then again, there's always the mining routes, but those are precarious."

She noticed that Shepard didn't really care about the dangers.  
>"Fine, there's a route barely big enough to fit a FAV like the ones you have, its right over at the alley between a coffee shop and an old parking bay." She revealed.<p>

"Good, we move out after we re-arm. The collectors are desperate at the moment so worth the effort to get through the bastards ASAP." Shepard urged them.

The team went off to salvage some gear and ammo before meeting back up at the vehicles.

XXXXX

Vespa's workers ran about pulling the pods into the bay of the reaper and the collector harvesters, their progress here was almost completed, but there were still the final packages that needed to be retrieved. The icon, and the beacon were still in the pickup location as promised by the contacts of the collectors, they haven't betrayed them yet.

The package was immense and very fragile, thus the reasons why it was taking so damn long to move the artefacts, but they needed to be moved with caution because of the contents. The last thing that the collectors needed was to lose the only sample they'd get of the 'original'. However Vespa was being extra cautious, and had asked for some special help.

The figure of the overwatch made sure to guard the reaper's treasure from the prying eyes of the damned humans and the bumbling fools that the council forces are. The time it was taking for the artefact was too long, but it was necessary, Vespa wasn't going to damage the only relic that mattered now, it was the key to finding the Guardian.

Vespa of course had her own reasons for being here, as did Sovereign, but he kept his distance from the site in order to observe, and besides he had an army of avatars to help him in his plans.

XXXXX

Shepard knew of tricky places to be in, and this was one of them, when Aria mentioned that the tunnels were mining tunnels he assumed they were heavy industrial made tunnel shafts that went in directions to mineral deposits, however that seemed to not apply for Omega. The warthogs had to churn their way through gaps as wide as only 5 meters and avoid high beams which were about 2.5 meters in height not 4.

The guns of the turrets had to be dismounted and still there as barely enough height for the hogs to get through the tunnels. It was a tight fit alright; the team had to cover the distance of about a few hundred meters to the other side where they'd end up in the rear of an apartment complex, then they would have to make their way to Mikael.

The hogs passed through to the end of the tunnel and that's where they found their exit, the team remounted the guns and prepared to exit into the open street ahead. Shepard took to the seat and hit the accelerator; he smashed through the metal fence and plastic cover at the entrance of the tunnel.

The team found itself in the abandoned street not far from the position of the helldiver and his squad, Shepard headed at point with Zaeed bringing up the rear. The team turned the corner at a café and up road to an area which was littered with corpses and wrecks. The collectors hadn't managed to get to Mikael and his squad that was obvious.

Shepard located the building where Mikael had last reported.  
>"Mikael we're in position outside, can you move?"<p>

"Yes sir, I've got 2 wounded, but they're mobile." The sergeant replied.

Shepard acknowledged and waited as the marines exited from their holdout, they rushed from their position, Mikael brought the rear up with his heavy machine gun, and it seemed that the helldiver sergeant wasn't injured even though his armour looked as if it was tossed into the meat grinder. He jogged up and saluted.

"Sir, good have you back." Mikael said respectfully.

"Good to see you to Sargent, you said that the collectors have been moving in the middle of the district?" Shepard inquired.

"Yes sir, the collectors have been actively moving what seemed to be large items or crates from a location in the district, I don't know what it could have been as my squad was engaged and we were forced back. But the evidence that one large item has gotten some serious attention, whatever it is, the collectors have placed a lot of security around it. It is still probably at the port." Mikael explained.

Shepard had his lead, the only piece for him to finally reach that bastard Saren, this was the break he needed and then the marines could finally hunt this bastard down or at least figure out what the hell the reapers were after. He motioned for Mikael.  
>"We better hurry, Mikael mount with Zaeed, we're moving now."<p>

The marines and Mikael mounted the transport hog which Zaeed was driving and followed after Shepard, they were headed straight for the port. It seemed reckless but the collectors had withdrawn from the area, it seemed that they had come and retrieved whatever it is that they were after, but what didn't make sense was why they had gone through the trouble to attack Omega?

Shepard watched as the port came into view, it was a single massive hole in the district, it could easily fit a UCAF cruiser or 2, and there was some activity. Shepard gunned the distance and hit the brakes when they reached the gates of the port, the massive gates held them back, but Shepard didn't waste time, he fixed on a hacking pad to the doors and bypassed the doors.

"Okay, here's the plan, if they're still here we route them, if not then we'll see if they left something behind." Shepard explained as he worked the controls.

"And if there's and army between us and the thing that they were after?" Aria asked.

"Then we'll improvise." He answered rather calmly.

"That doesn't sound very reassuring." Aria deadpanned.

Shepard shrugged and hit the activation to the door, the large gates groaned open into the port. The first thing that Shepard saw at that moment was rather shocking, the yard was almost empty aside from one large obelisk of a damned pillar that was being moved, and dozens of armed collectors, but what got his attention was the single being standing near a casket at the edge of the dark hull of the reaper that was present in the port.

The alien in question who was standing at the entrance to the reaper was armoured with dull grey armour, he was standing with his hands behind his back smiling. That sent shivers down Shepard's spine. The alien which he could now see was turian male, and very pleased with himself.  
>"Ah so the prodigal son does return, you should have died, Shepard. You and all your heathen race, the duty I do is in the best interests of the turian hierarchy as if you could ever understand."<p>

"Duty for me is to serve my people and their best interests, but also not to sacrifice all things good in order to pursue that duty." He replied adamantly drawing his pistol and aiming it at the turian's forehead. "Saren Arterius, I'm here to kill or capture you under the UCAF directive, in conspiracy for the attack on UCAF colonies and involvement with hostile elements."

Saren raised his hands and said humorously.  
>"I'm humbled, but there is one problem, I don't intend to come along quietly Shepard."<p>

Shepard primed a HE round and knew that one way or another Saren had to go, he focused and fired.  
>The sharp crack of Shepard's pistol would have sent the teams of collectors into acting, but none moved. As the bullet reached Saren, something happened. A figure dropped down and took the blow, the round shredding into the coat that was covering its body. Shepard and the team now could see that there was more than just Saren present.<p>

Saren laughed and repeated.  
>"I won't come quietly and nor would Vespa, she's rather upset that you arrived to interfere with the last bit of her plans, but no matter, I came down with reassurance, and that is this fellow." Saren motioned to the 7ft figure of the caped being.<p>

The being ripped the coat off and stood up tall, its single eye glaring at the team menacingly, its body was jet black chitin like armour half skeleton half mechanical, its eyes glowed with a pale blue, but energy seemed to crackle to life as it took up a battle stance. Shepard had a feeling that he just might need more than a gun.

Saren chuckled and paced about.  
>"Well Shepard, my move."<p>

Saren jabbed a finger at the squad and yelled something even the universal translators couldn't understand. The machine replied and then in a flash of speed it raced the distance at terrifying speeds towards the squad. Shepard managed.  
>"Fire!" Before he was suddenly struck in the armour by the claws of the hostile, the squad responded, but not in time. The machine leaped away and began an acrobatic performance at speeds that the marines couldn't pin the machine down.<p>

Mikael pulled out a few flash EM grenades and tossed them in wide arcs to cover the area, the explosions would fry the team's shields but it would also make the machine probably slower. His idea worked, the primed EM grenades fried the squad's shields but the machine had taken some damage as well.

Shepard got back up as the team then fired in concentration at the machine, Carbines and ARs kicked out rounds fast as they blew holes into the machine. But there seemed to be a problem, Saren saw that his time was going to run out if the machine went down before the last items could be recovered, he ordered his drones into action.

Shepard and the squad were forced into cover as the collectors began to attack as well, he could see that the obelisk that Saren was after was still being moved and whatever that the squad did, they'd never manage to stop the artefact from being stolen. He hated it but it seemed that Saren might escape this time, not to mention that he was just toying with Shepard with his new toy.

Shepard fumed but he kept his head straight and took down the collector drones as they kept coming, he fired without pause until all were downed. The artefact was boarded at that point with Saren smiling; he called back the reaver to his side as the doors to the reaper began to close. Shepard and the squad mopped up the last of the collectors and rushed to fire at the doors of the living ship, but it was too late, it detached from the port and accelerated away from the station bay.

Shepard swore at his luck, the one chance that Saren pops his head into the open and he escapes, he doubted that he'd ever get another chance in a long time to pursue the turian renegade. He called it in.  
>"Catharsis this is Shepard, I've got positive ID on Saren, the target has left via lower port of the station, can you track the ship before it exits from killzone?" He called.<p>

The response was quite not what Shepard had expected.  
>"This is Catharsis; Shepard we have ID on escaping vessel, however we cannot fire, the battle is over."<p>

Shepard was mutely stunned until the com continued from the fleet.  
>"The UCAF and members of the council have finally been in talks about the war and a ceasefire had been initiated about 6 hours ago, however along with the ceasefire the UCAF was asked to recall all task forces, as of this moment our pursuit of Saren Arterius has to be ceased. The UCAF will attend to the matters of the renegade at another time, at the moment you and the rest of the marines are to stand down and prepare for recovery. Do you understand commander?" The admiral asked.<p>

Shepard replied after a moment's silence, as much as he would have preferred to smash his com into the ground. "Acknowledged command."

The com went dead and he stood there, the team had heard the same thing, the war was over they had been ordered back by the UCAF because of the council, they couldn't pursue Saren, after all of this the turian truly did escape. But something caught Shepard's eye, the only thing that the marines managed to save was a single casket no bigger than one man.

As the marines discussed what the hell had just happened Shepard walked to the casket and looked at the top lid. The ID: UCADF-M- DOD: 2525/3/2 Name: Adrian Shepard, Rank: Corporal. It was then that the rest of the team noticed what Shepard was looking at, they gathered around but were unsure as to who this person was.

Aria then looked at it and the now silent Shepard.  
>"Shepard? Who is this?"<p>

Shepard replied quietly.  
>"My uncle… "<p>

XXXXX

AN: Ah another plot twist, this time we're going to the past, a past where the truth of the reapers first appeared and to the unveiling of the first UCAF encounter with the reapers and the forces of the greater galaxy. But also the hints towards the future, and what it is to bring afterwards we're going to the final chapters of the first arc. That's right, we're about less than 5 chapters from the final arc into the story and then welcome the next arc, and welcome the new faces of the war.

It's time for Adrian Shepard to make his first and last appearance, yes we're going into a short filler, but one that will give you an idea about how the reapers first witnessed the arrival of Shepard, if the story fits then we're going to have a very interesting story to read about. Let's go to Black Mesa, and I do not own Valve.

XXXXX

IT'S TIME FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ME

Now I know that the story is going to keep going for probably a very long time considering that we've only just cleared the first arc which means that we've gotten about 1/3rd of the story done. That said I've just figured out the next upcoming pieces of the story.

SPOILERS: Do not read if you do not wish to know what is to come…

Next part:

**Opposing Forces**- The ride of the UCAF against the first contact of the covenant and the attack on the UCAF research outpost of the Newton research facility in the Heston Strata, this arc will be about the UCAF and covenant war, and will give a first view into the beginning of the war. The story will then take us into the depths of Newton to the workings of the Beacon and the revelations surrounding the death of Adrian Shepard.

Then we're going into the Interlude of Shepard: Which will be covering the time period when Shepard is present for a hearing in the Citadel about Saren and the reasons for his escape, but also for what the UCAF intend to do and what comes next.

And finally for the end of the arc, we're going into the final chapters of Colonel Shepard and his valiant efforts against the reapers first plan of attack upon the galaxy, and then a cameo from the ghosts of Onyx who are set to make a return near the end of Arc 2.

Then we have the coming up story chapters which will be a fusion of guess what?  
><strong>Battlefield 3, Battlefield Bad Company 1&amp;2<strong> which will be a long story arc into the upcoming events for the UCAF and the council not to mention the background for the next arc which will be the backstory for the 2nd arc that is going to be the next Shepard. I'm not revealing the full story behind on how each will function as it would ruin the story and many people can take a guess, but I'll reveal it in time as the story progresses.

Oh and Nihlus is going to be Dima!

**COD:**

I have also been contemplating the fusion of Call of Duty, only the storyline, in truth the game was rather straight forward and much tactic wasn't required, and I have to admit it was just mostly run and gun, but fast paced action is okay if it has the theme for it. The story for the arc for COD was going to revolve around the last arc for the story as it involves the insurrection and the UNSC and UCAF in the colonies and threats issued by an extremist of the colonies, and it will have some important views into the intervention of the UNSC and the ONI, not to mention the reasons behind the events are going to be closely tied to certain causes influenced by a certain being… who remains in the shadows.

More or less the COD idea is on hold and won't be put into action until after the 2nd arc.

There are multiple fusions coming into the story and you've already seen the **Dead Space** cameo which was short, but soon to come into effect, yup Issac Clarke and the necromorphs will be coming possible in the 2nd arc, with Shepard being involved or somewhere in the middle. It will really have to depend if the idea works.

There will also be fusions story arcs for:  
><strong>Killzones<strong> 1-3 which are going to occur in the aftermath of Arc 2: Can't reveal how it will be executed because it will ruin the story. Templar will be making his appearance with the members of Noble Strike (Name of his squad for the arc).

**GOW- Gears of War**- unsure of how this would be executed, this idea was based more on an isolated incident on the world of Sera in a region called the Nova Expanse, on the border of known space, an isolated colony which had been recovered in the past 80 years is the centre point for a conspiracy to a rumour circulating around stolen artefacts and genetic experimentations of the former inhabitants.

From council space a bounty hunter after a rumoured mass murderer known as Dr Hart is forced to chase the fugitive to the world of Sera, and due to Sera's remote location it is easy for Hart to slip the network to the planet. The UCAF independent colonial forces are soon to be involved in the coming conflict as the war against the unknown creatures called the Locust takes a sharp spike. In the midst of the chaos of the council bounty hunter and the locust infestation a darker secret is uncovered and someone gets a free pardon. Marcus Fenix and delta going at it 27th century style with a lot of guns, not to mention there's a ton secrets that are involved in the GOW arc.

**Assassin's Creed**: This idea has crossed my mind, but then again it probably wouldn't work, unless it was set in the time of the UCAF war against the covenant, or if people really wanted me then I might take it to the period of the pre-UCAF era which wouldn't be smart because it has no major relevance to the current story. So I'll put that on the shelf for now. (It's unlikely to come into this story and would probably show up somewhere else.)

**Prototype**: This one is probably going to happen, or maybe not, the idea has already shown up as the form of Uri and the Chimera Project to create flood controlling entities and such, so this idea might come into effect.

Synopsis for this arc is: Alex Mercer (Please suggest another name.) Wakes to find himself in a morgue in the deepest levels of ONI Section 3, his memories faded and blurred the young man finds himself feeling odd, his recollection of the events are lost and he himself finds to recover the lost memories from ONI, by force or otherwise. But he soon finds himself facing not just the ONI, but those who reach far beyond the colony he lives upon, searching for vengeance at his predicament; he adds them to his list. Unwittingly he had just volunteered for the secret war.

The idea is rough as I haven't played the game and it would take me some time to figure out how to play it out. Not to mention that he's going to involve himself not with just the reapers, flood and the covenant and UCAF and UNSC, but the oldest threat which will be the precursors, I'm not going further than that though.

**DOOM**: Plain and simple, Citadel scientists believe that they had come across a brilliant discovery located in the depths of a mining world, needless to say their results prove worse than bad. The facility loses contact and the UCAF and ONI send in a team lead by Sargent Harkin, to investigate the incident. The whole situation turns to hell as Harkin is forced to gut and cut his way through the hordes of mutilated creatures that probably had come from hell itself. But something is a foot and the Sargent needs to find out what and stop it before he loses his mind.

Oh and did I mention that we're going to see a mass effect version of the BFG 9000?

I loved this old game when it was around, it's sure changed, but the concept remains relatively the same. I'm going to have to base this on Doom 3, if I remember correctly was the last one they made.

**Resident Evil: **Not a damn clue as to what I'm supposed to do with this one, I guess we're going on a field massacre with the undead of sorts and members of the ONI, but the Shadows are at play, and here come the agents of the Shadow Broker! The idea isn't going to happen any time soon, I'm just thinking about a possible arc. Wesker might have to be either working for the reapers or he might be just a failed version of Chimera, I don't know about how to do this one. The RE series is complicated and very long.

**CRYSIS: **This idea had come to me during the trailer for the war for earth ME3, the idea was to have a new generation of Spartan involved with strange occurrences in human space, the other strange thing is that the council has sent in its own force of Spectres to investigate the events as well, and what the sides find is terrifying. Our first glimpse into the arrival of the reapers or the precursors, and then the next one takes place in New York as I wouldn't change it, because we will be engaging the Reapers during the war for the second one.

So the idea is set around I'm going to reserve this one for last, COD will be second last possibly next to this one, I haven't figured it out yet of course this is just a hard idea of what might happen.

XXXXX

That pretty much concludes the major update for what is to come, yes I know that this is going to be huge, probably the biggest crossover around, with a lot of content not just a few hundred words, but thousands and thousands, and probably hit the 100,000s for each one.

The calculated numbers of stories involved are 7 or 8, and those with sequels are going to add to the list, so we've got essentially about 800,000 words to cover if not more than 1.2 million. Yeah I'm going to be pretty busy for the rest of this year and probably next year and possibly even after that, so you've all got something to look forward to and it's going to be a heck of a year.

Or on another note the fic might just have to separate the whole body, but then some events which relate to these arcs might not make sense so I'm in a pretty deep hole here.

If you've got suggestions please put them in the reviews for everyone else to consider and also please make sure to inquire about the content. Also I've been very busy for the past 5 weeks due to family issues which have diverted me constantly.


	20. Chapter 20

CH20

Opposing Force- The Flight of the Valkyries

UCAF Date: 2525/1/3

09:43

Location: Prodigal/ Haven System/ Endeavour Port

The sun shone warmly through the side of the train window illuminating the occupants inside with warm summer light, it was about 30 outside, pretty average for a earth like world. Prodigal was meant to be considered the best of the furthest colonies in the UCAF and the most sought after place to live.

But alas not many people can live here due to critical military and science facilities located so close by, and major coporations for space exploration and expedition had already bought out good chunks of the land in the area except in the tural and urgan regions meant for the colonists. The sun shone brightly for a bit more in the air-conditioned train.

Then the sudden blur of shadows came as it entered into the depths of an underwater passage that was leading to the capital port. The train continued onwards until it reached close range, the auto PA announced.  
>"Now entering Southern Port, all personnel leaving for Civil Forces please prepare to depart on arrival."<p>

The people in the train shifted, a few stood up and moved out of their seats or woke up others to get moving. One person in the seat near the front of the car kept his eyes closed, the noise from the PA tended to not wake him, he was used to hearing the shouts and cheers of a ton of things and he knew that his stop was after the South Port entrance.

This young marine had heavy brown hair soft green eyes and a small scar on his left cheek, he wore the UCAF standard marauder uniform, a khaki coloured jacket and tan shirt with camouflage pants, and shock boots. He was slouched in his chair and continued to sleep thoughtfully about his time back on his home on Shanxi.

His family was happy to hear that he was accepted into the UCAF 81st Expedition Force, they were said to be one of the best scouting forces which had a high reputation for discovering many locations and usually received a number of assignments into unknown space. But the 81st was also a rapid reaction force, they were tasked with immediate tasks should they ever occur, of course that meant that should a war come, Shepard would be on the front lines in less than a day.

Adrian Shepard hadn't really cared for war, he knew that conflict was a one in a thousand chance of occurring any time soon, and that was within his lifetime of 150 years. He shifted as the train stopped at South Port. Adrian had his brother, Mike/Michael J Shepard who was in the forces as well, but he was located back on Shanxi, seeing as he was tasked with local defence and colonial emergency guard. He hadn't wished to follow Adrian saying that it would be bad to leave their parents alone with only a few of their other siblings, and Michael was said to be dating a girl that he had known for a long time. Adrian was glad that his brother would be at peace, but Adrian wanted to go, and he was going, explore the universe and get a nice house on a remote world and begin another colony.

The train departed from South Port and the PA announced the next destination.  
>"Next stop, High Port, level 3, departures for active personnel, please prepare to depart."<p>

It was then that the marines in the train began to pack up their things and leave their seats, one member of the UCAF marines who knew Shepard nudged Shepard's arm and asked.  
>"Hey mate, you getting off next stop?"<p>

Shepard woke and replied.  
>"Yeah, I'm going."<p>

The marine headed off and let Shepard get his things packed, Shepard grabbed his bags and his helmet. He set off down stairs to the landing where the others were preparing to exit the train. He grouped around with more than 50 other people at the doorway, the usual amount of personnel preparing for their departure into active service.

Young marines were all like him, well almost, many had come from similar colonies like Shepard, passing the UCAF entrance exam into field operations, the recon fleet needed viable members with actual skill in search and destroy. The train continued on at 500km/h and slowed at the next station. Once they arrived at the grey metal platform where thousands of people were set to get on and off of, Shepard followed with the others into the crowded level.

He pushed his way through the heavy crowds and to the station exit and then from the passport entrance he ended up taking the path to the orbital elevator level. He passed into the streets where he was surrounded by the massive buildings of the port, the sky scrapers and massive complexes stretched around the entire area for miles.

Shepard walked from the station to the nearest tram relay to the port, it was another 5 minutes before he arrived at the main lifts, the orbital lifts rose from the base to the high orbit of the planet, supplying energy down to the capital from the many solar webs, and fed the UCAF fleet the necessary materials and personnel to the fleet. There were 6 lifts in this area alone, his one being the High Port location which linked him to the 81st fleet parked in orbit.

Exiting the tram he entered into the lobby for the UCAF personnel, he checked in at the security counter. The AI accentuated him.  
>"Corporal Shepard, age: 19, DOB: 25063/1, welcome to the UCAF 81st please head to terminal 90-3."

He nodded and took back his pass; he followed the departure gates and headed off to the one marked 90. He could see tens of thousands of personnel leaving for their stations bustling about the port, outside he could see the thousands of vessels being prepped, gunships hitting the air and the corvettes being loaded for further patrols.

It was then that he bumped into someone. A tall burly male, with a red beret and the mark of the UCAF elite Marauders, he stood and 6'2ft and said.  
>"Hey kid you might want to watch where you're going."<p>

He held out a hand and helped Shepard back up, Shepard replied.  
>"Yeah sorry man didn't pay attention." He apologised to the older marine.<p>

The marine's name tag was that of UCAF Special Forces, Marauder, Independent class, Major Alan Michael Jones. He then moved aside for the marine to head on to his own departure. Shepard had a feeling that the marine had more to see than just being stronger; it was like he was special… Shepard shook the thought off and continued on to his gate. UCAF independents were usually very powerful members of the military; they're also highly respected for their efforts in the field.

But something seemed off about the Major that Shepard couldn't pin his mind on, he arrived at Gate 90, and then pushed his palm down on the ID pad for access, once the gates allowed him to pass through he headed to a lift, entering he waited for other personnel to fill the lift seats. Once they were all seated the lift headed up.

He watched as the lift ascended at hyper velocities, the magnetic drivers pushed them up to the main rings for the fleet; it took about half an hour before they arrived. Once on arrival the people shuffled out into the main lobby, thousands of marines and military personnel rushed from place to place, Shepard followed on through from the gates and found the next gate to enter from.

UCAF 81st fleet gate was on one arm of the massive orbital station, he found his way to the vessel he was marked for. The UCAF Catharsis a Mythic class heavy cruiser, he found the port as it showed up on his wrist PAD, the small device was one of the most popular in the colonies, it was a house hold name as it was necessary for people to access the news and a number of other items, application which could be uploaded easy in a snap and so many other functions.

Shepard had his PAD tasked with heading him to the Catharsis, he followed on until he reached the airlock, he stepped through and entered the decontamination chamber, after a moment of being quickly cleansed he passed into the transfer rig, which was just a tram. The tram took him and others to the ship's lower bay where many personnel were getting off at.

The hangar bay was massive, of course considering that this was a UCAF heavy cruiser, the 4.8km ship was meant to manage an entire expedition, and it wouldn't make much sense without having a ship that could support the rest of the fleet. Shepard found himself now surrounded by new faces; he'd be joining these marines for their tour of duty in the expedition.

He walked around until he came across the commander of the force, he had the rank of colonel and was directing the marines in the bay, he seemed to pause and notice Shepard.  
>"You there, I guess you're the new guy filling in for the RRF?" The colonel asked.<p>

"Yes sir, Corporal Shepard reporting for duty." He made a short salute to the colonel.

"No need to be that formal with me, except maybe the sergeant major, but anyone who signs up for the RRF Company in my eyes got some balls, you're assigned to the second company of my force or so it seems. You have a death wish marine?" The colonel asked.

Shepard wasn't too sure what he meant by it but replied.  
>"No sir, just doing my job."<p>

"Ha! I like that; you're bold as well as ballsy. I guess you'll fit right in, second company will be preparing in their area on the ship, it's just past the falcon scout VTOLs, you'll find them there, I'm sure that captain Vince will be pleased to have a new corporal." The colonel explained.

"Why?" Shepard inquired.

"The last one got crushed by 40 tons of rock during a landslide on a rescue mission a month ago, good luck." The colonel dismissed him.

Shepard nodded and followed on with the directions to where the falcons were parked. The fast reaction force was usually on the move, and falcons were meant to get them on the ground fast, it'd make sense to have the fast infantry with the fast deployment. Shepard passed the gunship and to where a bunch of marines were stripping down some equipment, he could see dozens of ARs and Carbines being refitted with their new 44cal chambers, or a sniper adjusting his 50.

He soon found his way to the captain of the company, a black buzz cut marine with the rank of Captain sitting with his daily bulletin from the colonies, and he had scratches on his armour that look like they've been there for years, and they probably have. He didn't look up as Shepard saluted him.  
>"I guess you're the new corporal, welcome to second company 81st expedition, or what we call Run and Gun."<p>

Shepard asked.  
>"Sir, what unit am I assigned to?"<p>

The captain continued to look at the paper and replied thoughtfully.  
>"The 3rd squad they're down in the cafeteria at the moment, their post is over at the falcons down the bay to the right lot 15, you best place your gear next to theirs, as for the barracks, they're on the level above and they don't have much space for us, so you're packed with them."<p>

"Thank you sir." Shepard turned to leave.

The captain however said one thing before he left.  
>"There's nothing to thank me for."<p>

XXXXX

Shepard did what he did, get his gear down and get to the barracks, the room he was being put in was with the 3rd squad, he located their room next to the lifts near the showers, it as was the whole ship was dark grey metal coloured and dull. Yeah this was the life he signed up for, he guessed. He entered the key from his ID and it acknowledged him, he pushed the door open and looked around.

The room was almost void, 2 members from 3rd squad were in the room, a sleeping novice marine, and one teenage academy marine at a desk busy sending messages home. He greeted Shepard with a glance and said.  
>"You've got bunk with Jamie down the last bed to the right."<p>

"Thanks." Shepard replied curtly and got himself into the room.

He found the bed marked, Jamie/ (NFG) Shepard. Shepard placed his clothes and personal affects into a double locker with his name also marked; he then checked his bed before deciding to go get something to eat. He passed the teen and headed out the door. Passing into the open corridor of grey and occasional white metal rooms, he arrived at the cafeteria.

The portside cafeteria was a rather open space compared to the many other sections of the ship, but open didn't mean that it was any less crowded or claustrophobic. The area was packed with hundreds of marines hurrying about from the counter to wherever they needed to sit, it seemed like rush hour traffic as female and male personnel packed around in like compressed ham.

Shepard had to find his way through the crowd and to anywhere he might find some space, he'd be able to mark a chair if he could reach one, but it seemed way to hectic to do so. He spent another minute before he was tapped on the shoulder by a rather astute looking female personnel, she had a flight dress and asked.

"So I hear that you're part of Squad 3?" She said curiously.

"Yeah." Shepard replied.

"Looks like you're going to have to gun it with me; I'm Mira, 1st lieutenant of the Thunderhead Flight, and your pilot for any upcoming missions." She explained.

Shepard got it now.  
>"Okay, so should that mean to reassure me that I won't accidently get knocked out of the falcon or should that mean I should keep my eye on you?" He smiled.<p>

She raised an eyebrow and replied.  
>"Another remark like that Shepard and I suppose you will."<p>

The pilot headed on and left the corporal looking around again, but this time someone else called him over, he looked to see some marines sitting at a table with their food, one of them was calling him over. He moved to them and was surprised to see that his PAD ID them as the members of 3rd squad busy eating.

He was greeted by a rather upbeat jarhead.  
>"Hey new guy, welcome to 3rd squad, nice moves on Mira. But word of warning, she's mine." The jarhead said.<p>

Shepard felt his guts slightly chill, and he nodded.  
>"Yeah, got that, so do you have a spare seat or should I be going?" He asked.<p>

"Sure, sit next to Kyle; he's just been lazing around there." He motioned to a marine who was sleeping on his side over the length of the chair.

Shepard obliged as the marines next to Kyle shook him to move him over, he mumbled a bit and shifted enough for Shepard to get down. Then the marines began the welcoming committee for Shepard. The jarhead introduced himself.  
>"I'm Sargent Camaro; I'll be keeping you alive and hopefully in better condition from your predecessor."<p>

He motioned to the next marine.  
>"This is Jimmy, or Jamie, I guess you'd figured out that he's your bunk mate, he's also our squad spotter and tactical killer. Don't get the wrong impression though, Jamie's relatively harmless, but you should see him in the field. Animals don't stand a chance." Shepard observed the quiet Asian teen, he was busy chowing down on some rice and assorted foods. He seemed quite calm.<p>

The next marine was a rough looking male, in his early 20s; Shepard guessed he was a veteran of the squad due to his marked insignia. "This is Lieutenant Chester, former counter terrorism operator in the Callis Cluster, he got moved here in 2520, and he's out veteran." The man with the unshaved beard nodded to Shepard with acknowledgement and went on reading an article while eating.

The other marines were just young blood marines like Shepard, and the last one being Kyle.  
>"Kyle got transferred here about 6 months ago for an incident during which resulted in the damage of 150,000 credits, and of course trashing the general's favourite hog and damaging UCAF air force material, he ended up with us."<p>

Shepard glanced over at the still sleeping form of Kyle and said.  
>"Okay, so is that everyone?"<p>

"Pretty much our squad, I can't go into detail about the rest of the company though, I don't know what to say, aside from don't go prying into personal details. Everyone minds their own business here, and we all get home after our 2 years of duty or we stay on. Frankly, I and the LT are the only members who tend to stay on, aside from Kyle who's been forced to stay on and Jamie who wants to remain, everyone else gets a transfer or moved regularly after 18months." Camaro explained.

Shepard got his head around the squad quickly and figured who to trust for now. He introduced himself to the marines and got to doing what he needed to do, get their trust.

XXXXX

2525/1/5

Shepard spent the most of yesterday getting through equipment checks and quick overview on weapons and gear, he passed through everything pretty quickly and then got a chance to go into the firing range and get to target practice, he fired through courses 9-15 damn well, and then afterwards Jamie killed practically every one of his scores in a matter of moments.

He met with Mira during a brief intermission in the briefing chamber, the mission orders for the 81st was going to be exploring the Capston Spearhead, a pretty far trip as it was going through 90 light years into unmarked space. The mission was to begin on the 6th, as the fleet needed final checks before it began departure.

Shepard was now on the observation deck on the ship, level 7; he was here just for a break, reading letters from home. He smiled at the pictures from his younger brother and sister and felt that he'd miss them a lot on his coming 5 year tour. He set his PAD aside and sat on the bench on the deck and look out into the open void, it was so massive, impeccable and daunting.

One man going for a trip that would barely cover anything but a micro meter on the face of the whole galaxy, he couldn't help feel a little overwhelmed at what was going to come next. His train of thought was interrupted as the sound of alarms started to ring, he noticed that everyone began to head off to their stations; it was an alert signal for the fleet. But the fleet wasn't even meant to leave till tomorrow, did they change the schedule?

It was then that he saw something from the observation deck, it was a sharp flash of light, a slip-space rupture about in high orbit, and it was just some distance from the 81st but not the rest of the UCAF forces. Shepard and some other personnel stood around to see what was going on, it was about a minute after the vessel had dropped out from slip-space that they saw a bright flash of light.

The whole ship began to ring for combat alert.  
>"All personnel to combat stations, repeat all personnel to combat stations, we have confirmed hostile presence within reach of the colony. Multiple contacts approaching from slip-space, Unidentified and marked as hostile."<p>

The whole ship now racked with activity, people began to run to their stations, Shepard knew that he was going in to his post, he hurried to the lifts but kept his eyes on the windows for what was going on outside. He could see flashes of exchange from the UCAF fleet now engaged with the unknown.

As he reached the bay for the marines, he got into his gear, but what surprised him was that marines were asking what the alert was about. The colonel was directing efforts and trying to get the marine's heads about the situation.  
>"All marines to your stations, we've been put on active alert from HIGH COM, there's been a situation and we're being activated for combat reaction. All RRF to your flights for combat drop!"<p>

Shepard ducked into the falcon and got his gear active, the standard UCAF marine exo-armour; he suited up and made sure that his eye piece functioned well. His exo-armour was a MKII-MG custom, the main line of UCAF amour in the marine division, basic interface and strength enhancers with magnetic generation fields to deflect incoming projectiles and create a heavy energised layer to protect the marine.

He had his rifle, a Mattock DMR, semi-auto, the rifle was a top line weapon, it had seen service since the initial formation of the UCAF almost 75 years ago, and it would serve its purpose here and now. HEAP rounds loaded and modified laser designators and scopes he kept his Mattock up to high standards, as he and many marines were happy to do so. Better have a good gun with good customizations.

The slight reverberations of the ship increased as the Catharsis began to head towards the planet; Shepard could tell that this was no longer going to be an expedition to the unknown. It was then that collision alarms rang through the ship and something exploded at the entrance of the hangar bay lip. Shepard looked up to see that there was something purple rammed at the entrance, parts of a vessel or what might have been a vessel was now scattered over the length of the hangar, but the main body of the wreckage seemed intact.

It was then that they could hear something, the side of the vessel popped open and a group of aliens popped out onto the deck; they chattered something alien and pointed at the marines. Lt Chester didn't hesitate to fire as the first aliens raised their weapons, his carbine ripped through the small group with ease.

"Light em up!" Chester ordered.

Vince was about to reprimand him with protocol until they heard more noise, a whole platoon jumped out from the wrecked boarding vessel and they began to fire, a tall alien with different armour commanded the aliens. It was then that another boarding vessel appeared with 2 more on the starboard side hangar, they were getting into the ship.

The colonel of the battalion ordered all the marines to engage, regardless of whether or not they were supposed to be at their damned stations, all the marines followed up and began shredding into the aliens. Shepard peaked up and took aim, thanks to years of desensitization from combat simulators on battle scenarios he fired at the first alien through the head, the stubby creature fell down as its face was blown clean off.

More aliens appeared and they began to fire, they were like the short ones, but fast with their feet, they had a sort of shield gauntlet to deflect fire. It was then that Jamie appeared and fired a 40mm into the shield carriers, the aliens didn't have enough time to scatter as they were blown to pieces. The larger aliens in command began to push forwards and attack.

Shepard didn't waste time getting the attention of a red one with some sort of energy repeater; the fire scathed his armour pads but didn't penetrate his armour. Shepard fired and realised that the alien had some sort of shield system. It charged forwards at Shepard as he tried to reload his AR, he hadn't had time to get his pistol out. But as luck would have it.

The alien was about 10 feet from him when a heavy blast from a shotgun sent the alien flying with a hole in its gut. Kyle stepped up and began unleashing unrelenting hell from an AA-24, a semi-auto shotgun with plenty of ammo, and it probably had illegal HE buster rounds. But that didn't matter, the marine began to mow a line through the aliens with ease, he didn't seem that perturbed that he was killing aliens he just seemed tired.

The last of the aliens were mopped up as they reached the lower orbit, the PA rang out as the marines got back to their seating positions on the falcon VTOL gunships. Shepard made sure to keep an eye out for better ammo; the aliens seemed to take a lot of damage. Chester talked to the captain about their orders now and he returned for what was going to be one of the longest days in Shepard's life.

"We've got orders that the aliens are now moving to deploy a search and destroy force on the world, we've been ordered to secure the main ports against attack until the fleet can begin mass evacuation from the planet." He explained.

"Great, so what about the fucking fact that we don't have a fucking clue as how to stop an alien invasion?" One marine asked.

"Well the answers simple, fight or die trying marine, we're meant for this kind of training, so get your ass into gear and get ready for drop." Lt ordered.

The marine shut up as the ship began the final descent into the atmosphere; they were going to the main capital to begin mass evacuation. But something seemed off with this operation, Shepard couldn't shake the feeling that there was going to be more than just some damn evac mission…

XXXXX

Location: Prodigal/ Haven System/ Above Endeavour Port

The Catharsis dropped the RR Force about 50,000ft from above, the marines would have to descend upon the capital by air and secure the main ground for the evacuation. It was easy to figure out that this wasn't going to be simple though. The unknown hostiles were dropping right on top of the city in waves; thousands of drop ships and gunships were pouring in from above, Shepard was surprised to see that this was coming from a ship the equivalent size of the Catharsis.

The momentary pause was interrupted as the falcons came under fire, Shepard ducked as a burst of energy struck from an enemy vessel, and it wasn't that far away. The gunner on the turrets opened up, but with mounted machine guns, he doubted that they'd make a dent in that armour. The aliens continued to pursue, until a falcon got behind it and began to fire EMP rounds into the rear.

The vessel peeled off its pursuit as the falcon tailed it away from the others. The rest of the trip down was the marines keeping their eyes out for more enemy vessels; they approached the main port where the evacuation was supposed to be taking place. Hundreds of thousands would be packed trying to get off world.

Shepard watched their approach as they made their descent to the corporate sector of the city, it would probably be easier to drop them there as people would be rushing from the urban districts. Mira put them down about 5ks from the main objective, the area marked as UCAF tertiary academy, it was a operational training base for marines, it was marked as a high priority target as it would be the main line of defence for people fleeing to the port.

And also it seemed as though command had other plans for the marines. As soon as they touched down, the marines dispersed covering the approach to the base, they were going to travel the distance quickly and it wasn't going to be easy considering that there were civilians and hostiles now present.

Chester led the team, Shepard followed on with the others in single file as they closed the distance to the academy. From above they could see aerial combat being waged by the UCAF air force and alien hostiles. It seemed so unreal at this point in time, Shepard hadn't even imagined that such a thing could happen in his lifetime, contact and war.

The marines continued onwards through the streets, some were obviously struck by enemy fire and others just trashed in the panic. As they made their final approach to the base they found that the area was active, hostile signals lit the area up. Shepard activated his PAD and linked it to his DMR scope for IR scans.

He sweeped the area and found it hot, energy fire was being directed at the main entrance to the UCAF academy and it seemed that the marine recruits were fighting back. Gun emplacements at the top of the base were also active firing missiles and auto-cannons in heavy bursts. The area increased in activity as another vessel came down and deployed a platoon strength of troops.

Shepard alerted the Lt.  
>"Sir, area's hot, I've got sights on 3 platoons in reach of the base, they aren't overrun yet, but they won't last much longer."<p>

Chester considered his options, he then concluded.  
>"We're moving in, orders are clear, but those marines are also our priority we're getting in there."<p>

The team understood, never leave a man to die, these young marines were needed more than them. Chester took point and fired into the nearest squad to draw their attention as the marines quickly took up cover around the hostiles. The aliens fired in retaliation, however the stubby creatures were poor shots to say the least.

Camaro fired a grenade and popped the aliens cluster into a smoking crater, the stubby aliens ran as their friends were butchered and the other platoon scattered into cover. The marines pressed the attack until the cadets at the base brought out some heavier gear, at the top of a landing of the base a team of cadets brought a HMG down on the aliens.

The 44cal rounds turned the aliens into puree as the high calibre rounds blew them apart, the last platoon recalled and fled in the opposite direction leaving their comrades pinned and outgunned. Shepard picked another 3 other stubby aliens and the last of the platoon was cut down by Camaro and Chester.

Chester called to the marines.  
>"This is RRF 3rd squad, we were ordered to secure the base."<p>

The officer in charge allowed them through. The team raced up the flight of steps and the cadets sealed them, Chester in command of the force was greeted by a officer, one that hada familiar triangle shape with a circle in the middle. He saluted the officer and asked.  
>"Sir, Lt Chester, we were ordered here for securing the base."<p>

"Ah, that's good to hear. My name is Aaron, agent James Aaron ONI section 3. I believe I do need some help." The young officer replied.

XXXXX

(Dun, dun, dun!)

Yes, now we know who Aaron is! Another plot twist to add, and further development for the second arc soon to follow, not to mention that we will be seeing an old familiar face soon enough.


	21. Chapter 21

CH21

Opposing Force- The Burning Dawn…

UCAF Date: 2525/1/5

11:30

Location: Prodigal/ Haven System/ Academy Grounds

Camaro and Chester were unsure of what to make of their situation, the ONI operative technically outranked both of them and with emergency command being enforced for all high priority objectives the UCAF had initiated emergency commands for all ONI operatives. The emergency command meant that the marines had no choice but to take commands from Aaron regardless of the situation due to the crisis at hand, and the sensitive knowledge that the ONI agent possessed.

Aaron may not have seemed like a stereotype like those that the UCAF media portrayed as secret mongering psychos, but Aaron had a very different air about him, like he had secrets to hold that were shrouded by this familiar persona. He addressed the squad soon enough.  
>"Well lieutenant, what it is?"<p>

Chester asked.  
>"What exactly is the objective that you're trying to attain?"<p>

Aaron replied with a reclusive smirk.  
>"Well that is beyond your pay grade Lieutenant, the item that you will be required to find is a cylinder like object 40 centimetres in length with a diameter of 10 and is coated in iridium casings which are nigh unbreakable."<p>

Chester could put 2 and 2 together.  
>"So it is an ONI black box?"<p>

"Possibly, you only need to know that it is located at the ONI base 3 clicks from here, it is located in the main server of ONI operations, however the facility is under heavy fire and communications was lost some time ago, so be expected to run into hostiles." Aaron advised.

Chester felt like smacking the smile off of the ONI agent's face, but he restrained himself and got the message to follow orders no matter how bad they may seem. It was technically an emergency and that meant that this operation had priority. He got back to the squad; Camaro was concerned about their priorities.

"Sir we aren't actually going to allow for this are we? We're supposed to be protecting the colony, not hunting some fucking archive that these guys can't even purge." Camaro asked.

"Great so, we're actually going with this jackass?" Kyle commented lazily.

Jamie shrugged and checked his rifle barrel as the marines waited for the lieutenant prepared to make his decision.  
>"Corporal, if it wasn't for the fact that we're now at war, I'd have agreed with you, but the responsibility falls to us, we need to make sure that these things don't get their hands on the records."<p>

The marines nodded and agreed, they had the responsibility, and the ONI records had to be recovered. The marines got their gear together again; they were going to move out. Aaron smiled as Chester went back to him.  
>"So you've agreed?"<p>

"Yes sir, I do want to know though, how is this black box going to be extracted?" Chester asked.

"Simple, pelican gunships will come down to help move the archives; I shall be on the one to recover the core, to ensure that it is authentic and undamaged." Aaron replied.

Chester nodded and got back to the squad.  
>"Move out, Camaro take point."<p>

The squad went out from the cover of the UCAF academy rushing down from the flights of stairs to the street below. The covenant hadn't returned, the squad continued on from their direction to the ONI complex, it was as the agent had said 3 clicks from the base; it hadn't been hard to see considering that the ONI complex was the only pyramid shaped building around with a separate spire constructed nearby.

The marines negated the surrounding combat zone to reach the ONI complex, however the marines had a feeling that they weren't alone. Shepard kept his ears open to listen for movement, but when they heard it they couldn't find out if the sound was coming from around the corner, the combat zone was wrecking hell on their hearing not to mention that their motion sensors hadn't been the most reliable ever made.

The team passed through another intersection about a hundred or so meters to the bridge of the complex, the ONI made sure to build a sort of moat around each complex, to ensure that they had a source of direct water not to mention that anyone who had to swim wouldn't make it very far. The security and marine forces at the base would be able to fend off any attacks that might be thrown at the facility; however it seems that ONI failed to test this on aliens.

The marines reached the main doors through a drive way to the bridge, they entered into the tunnel, and then Jamie halted them, he motioned with his hands that there were enemies ahead. The rest of the squad got into the sides of the wall and took cover behind some cars, Jamie jumped off into the darkness of a tunnel maintenance hatch and into the depths of the tunnel.

Shepard was keep his eyes trained on the tunnel, it was then that he and the others could hear talking; it was a garble of babble that the marines couldn't understand. They waited for the sounds to get closer, but then the sounds stopped abruptly and then screaming. It took moments before shots and a thud of bodies.

Shepard kept his eyes out as someone came over the other end, Jamie held the corpse of an agile looking alien, and he dropped the body and headed on and motioned for the squad to hurry up. The squad caught up with the specialist. Shepard couldn't help but feel suddenly nervous around the marine; the sight he left behind was a gruesome one.

The bodies of a dozen stubby aliens and their counter parts were lying in pools of blood, a few of which had missing heads and arms. Jamie quietly walked on searching for more targets, the marines kept themselves close behind making sure to keep their eyes out for anything. But with Jamie at the front they doubted that they'd have to look for much.

The troops kept on with moving through the tunnel until they reached the end, Jamie opened the door and followed them through to the road where the ONI Bridge connected. The sight was intimidating, the large cube obelisk stood out on its small island, it was obsidian black. The structure ran up roughly a few hundred meters, the marines were going to have to search for the damn core inside that thing.

They hurried over to the toll booth where the automated system ID them for access, it was on lockdown which the tech marine of the squad a young fellow named Andre got to work, he hacked the doors open for the squad. They proceeded over the bridge and towards the ONI complex, but as they approached, Camaro halted them as they reached the main entrance.

"Jamie, can you scout the area?" He asked.

The young marine nodded and vanished over a wall, in moments they got back his live feed.  
>"There are 5 dropships, 2 armoured vehicles, and I count at least a dozen squad clusters." Jamie whispered.<p>

Sargent Camaro swore loudly and asked.  
>"Do you see any other approach to the facility?"<p>

"None sir, I can't see anything besides the front entrance, I'd advise a frontal assault once I plant explosives onto the enemy armour. Afterwards a straight forward attack should be sufficient as long as the dropships don't remain." Jamie replied.

Camaro looked to Chester. The LT thought it through, he knew that they had come this far, and they had to go on further, that or they planned an alternate means of getting through, but with the aliens being here now, they had no choice the core was either going in their hands or remain in the UCAF control.

The LT addressed Jamie.  
>"Jamie go through with the explosives, place them on 1 minute charges, I need you to get ahead of the covenant. We're going to take the covenant while you get inside and extract that core."<p>

"Understood sir, going in." The specialist replied.

The LT brought up his rifle and ordered the squad.  
>"Camaro take point, Shepard flank with Kyle once we get in, you two will be moving ahead to get to Jamie. We'll come around with the rest of the squad once we've dealt with the hostiles."<p>

Kyle nodded and Shepard acknowledged. But an uneasy feeling remained in Shepard's mind; he felt that he knew what was coming, as the squad pushed down the stairs; they waited for the explosions from the placed charges. The unknown vehicles which were tagged were blown in a fireball of HE, the marines rushed into the courtyard of the ONI complex.

They found they were at the rear lines of the aliens advance to the ONI complex and they were caught off guard, up until the marines began to mow them down with their combined fire. Kyle and Shepard began their advance to the left of the battle; their target was the left side of the many marble flights of steps. They hit the stairs and headed on up, Kyle lagged behind by a few steps but the marines seemed more active now that they were rushing.

Shepard checked his sights as they headed up, the aliens were heading down and weren't bothered to keep their eyes on everything. He and Kyle slipped by the aliens to the ONI front doors, the entrance had been under lockdown, but the aliens had blown them open earlier, they jumped down into the now open doors.

They entered into the lobby, where they found the first aliens, their bodies had been stacked on top of each other as they had made a suicidal attack upon a UCAF marine team which had positioned a 50cal Vulcan in waiting, the team had been overwhelmed eventually by sheer number and detonated a high explosive device.

Ignoring the corpses of the fallen marines Shepard and Kyle found the lift to the lower levels, they entered into the lift and Shepard hit the button downwards, exactly to the level that agent Aaron had pointed out to them. The lift descended quickly, however as they descended they found that there was not lighting.

The ONI ops never liked much lighting, Shepard wasn't too worried, but the lights usually helped when they needed to find their targets, also their eye pieces were easily visible to anyone so it would come as a danger when trying to engage in dark enclosed spaces. They arrived at the level, it was dimly lit, and it wasn't because of the emergency lighting.

The area was covered in a low blue lighting, you could just make out the corners, but it was still hard to see, they proceeded to go deeper into the facility, the core was located in a room about 30 meters to their right. As they got closer they could hear movement, they paused as they suddenly heard the voice of an alien, it was high pitched and rather annoyed or frightened, it was hard to tell considering that the voices were so high.

The voices got closer and Shepard and Kyle switched their eye pieces off, they watched as a patrol of aliens passed, half a dozen stubby aliens walked on passing the marines without noticing. Shepard checked his TAC pad and found the way; the objective was in the opposite direction of where the aliens had come from.

He moved ahead with Kyle trailing close behind, they reached the end of the corridor where they found the next obstacle, it was a set of doors, Kyle got to the door and pulled the control box next to it open, he began to rig it to his own TAC pad and soon the doors opened. They got inside; Kyle locked the door behind them.

The room was equally dark like that of the outside, but at least it had a central light in the middle. The core was supposed to be down 3 flights of stairs to the last level of this spiral room. Shepard peered over from his position to look down and found what they were after, it was a circular object down at the bottom of the floor, and it had a few aliens nearby it.

He looked for others, 6 squads of alien patrols were going around, and he knew that this was going to be a fight to get the core with the aliens knowing that they were here. He pulled his silenced M5 custom out, Kyle removed a shotgun attachment and added it to his AR and loaded the external weapon attachment.

The marines both carefully tread as they went down the stairs, the dim lighting was playing hell on their depth of perception, but it wasn't playing hell on their hearing. The aliens weren't that far away from the stairs as they went down carefully, Shepard could hear the sounds of chatter. There were a number of them chattering without thinking.

Shepard prepared, he rounded the side of the stairs and saw 7 aliens, 3 were skinny, 4 stubby, and he deduced their names essentially to their bodies. He fired in quick succession with his silenced pistol and dropped them where they stood. Kyle didn't even have a chance to fire his shotgun attachment when Shepard splayed them over the ground.

Mute surprise from the corporal was all that Shepard received as they continued on; Shepard kept his eyes out for more movement and his ears open for the sounds of the chatter, as they reached the next stairwell, Shepard noticed something and got into cover. Kyle followed him into the shadows next to the stairwell and waited.

Rather loud footsteps came over as a skinny avian popped in looking around the room. Shepard pulled a bullet from a mag and tossed it over the room, the sound of the soft ping made the alien turn away from the two marines; Shepard brought himself around and shoved a knife into the throat of the alien. The avian like creature garbled softly as it choked on its own blood and died.

Shepard removed the knife and dragged the corpse of the alien into the shadows. He got his pistol back out and followed down the stairs keeping his eyes out for the movement of any more aliens. The two reached the bottom of the stairs and found that there were no other hostiles in visible sight, they continued on the level, until he found their hostiles.

4 hostiles, 2 with shields and another 2 with what looked like night-vision goggles; Shepard kept his head below a table that was facing the aliens, he made sure to get Kyle in position, they couldn't avoid a loud contact. Shepard motioned with his hand 4 seconds and then all hell broke loose.

The marines jumped from their position, Shepard dispatched the 2 visor using aliens and Kyle sprayed the other shield wielding aliens with a burst of fire from his shotgun attachment on his AR. The aliens fell under the fire, and the noise was enough to startle practically every alien on the last floor down.

Shepard primed a frag and tossed it down the edge of the wall to the last floor. There was an audible thud as the explosion blew apart those on the last floor, Shepard moved in with Kyle as they raced down the flights of stairs to meet the hostiles. They made it down the stairs and faced… absolutely nothing.

The aliens on the last floor were dead; the grenade couldn't possibly have killed them all could it? Shepard then noticed the long shadow from the centre of the room; he could see the figure of Jamie pulling the core out of the centre. Shepard and Kyle approached the specialist and asked.  
>"Where the hell did you come from?"<p>

Jamie pointed up and Shepard noticed that there was a level above the main floor, it lead even higher, it looked like a maintenance port for the lights. Jamie hitched the cables from above to the core and motioned for Shepard and Kyle to do likewise. As sounds of angered aliens came knocking on the doors nearby from their position, Shepard clicked the cable on easy with Kyle.

Jamie hit something on his belt and suddenly all of them were heading up to the maintenance level, downstairs the aliens finally entered and began to fire at the marines as they escaped. Shepard pulled himself into the hatch with Kyle as they narrowly avoided the energy fire from the aliens; they found themselves now in a rather interesting predicament.

Time was running out, and now that the aliens knew that they were present in the building. Things were going to get hot. The marines hurried with Kyle hefting the core on his back, they exited the room into the corridor. Jamie took point guiding them through the levels to the lifts, he got them to them and in, and then they were on their way to the roof, exactly where the extraction was to take place.

As the lift ascended, Shepard noticed that Jamie was tensing. Jamie's face was screwed up in concentration as he listened for something. Shepard honestly thought it was probably nothing, but if Jamie was looking down and listening out, it was smart to make sure of the same thing, Shepard stuck his head out and listened in as well, all he could hear was the hum of the mag-lift nothing else.

But then again, what was strange was that the mag-lift shouldn't even be humming… Shepard stuck his head over the side of the lift to see where the humming noise was coming from; he spotted movement, a lot of movement. He pulled out his Mattock and got to work picking off whatever was chasing the lift upwards.

He fired in short bursts as the things began to catch up; he noticed the visible lines and shapes on their bodies glowing, he thought it was rather stupid to have glowing targets on their bodies. 'Why didn't they just post, 'please shoot me' on their backs instead?' He thought to himself.

He fired another burst and dropped another 2 more fliers; Jamie used his pistol while Kyle used his rifle to blast a few of them to hell, the marines kept the bugs down until they reached the top level. Shepard exited first with Kyle and then Jamie, the bird was set to arrive in a few minutes, as they reached the pad outside. They heard something that didn't sound like a pelican gunship.

The turned to look upwards, 2 alien gunships were on approach; they fired at the marines and dropped a dozen aliens down, each sporting a sort of jetpack. The jumpers landed on the pad and began to fire at the marines; Shepard ducked under the closest bit of cover he could see. Jamie vanished in a blast and Kyle ducked under a vent near his own position.

The large burly aliens weren't like that of the other aliens; these seemed brutish in a sense, large and brutish. Shepard popped from cover and let off a burst from his AR and damaged the armour on one, but the others quickly scattered and began to pin him and Kyle. It was then that one brute suddenly went flying through the air.

Jamie had rammed a blade into the pack and sent the brute through a wall, he moved faster than Shepard had ever seen a human move. Jamie seemed to play tag with the aliens, they fired at him and he fired knives back. A brute chased the marine until he ran up a wall and summersaulted onto its back, he rammed 2 serrated blades through its neck and dropped it right there. Jamie dropped the corpse and vanished under a vent when the brutes concentrated their fire at him.

Shepard took the distraction and fired into the pack of another brute and sent the alien's jetpack haywire as it exploded. Kyle blew another brute apart in close combat as the brute attempted to rush him. Sadly for the streak of kills the marines were still outnumbered and outgunned. The brutes turned back to their primary targets and began to fire on Shepard and Kyle in concentrated bursts; they weren't going to waste any more time.

It was then that Shepard heard something.  
>"Yippy Kay-yay mother fuckers!"<p>

Mira's Falcon gunship appeared and unleashed 2 mounted heavy machine gun barrels on the brutes and the marines aboard fired with their rifles and grenades. The brutes were caught in the heavy burst of fire and were mowed down in a firestorm of attacks. Shepard and Kyle moved away as fast as they could once the brutes went down.

Jamie appeared out of nowhere and followed up behind Shepard. Mira put the falcon as close as she could to the landing platform and the marines yelled for Shepard and Kyle to hurry up. The marines jumped in and Mira took off, the falcon ascended from the ONI building with speed as a sudden explosion erupted from the base and collapsed the structure.

Shepard and Kyle looked at Jamie with confusion. But their thoughts were interrupted as LT Chester addressed them.  
>"Good damn work marines, we might have just saved a few hundred colonies. We'll be leaving the combat zone soon enough, is the package secure?" Chester asked.<p>

"Yes sir, but I thought that ONI prick said he'd be coming to evac the core?" Shepard asked.

"Let's just say that he had some delays, he'll be coming to retrieve it from the ship once we've landed, either than that. We're bugging out." Chester replied.

Shepard raised an eyebrow.  
>"Sir we're abandoning the colony?"<p>

"Yes." He replied rather downtrodden.

Shepard then saw the heavy flashes of light come streaking down from the skies; it was a beautiful display of firepower and raw force coming down in droves. He couldn't help feeling cheated though, those people who they could have helped. But the many outweigh the few right?

XXXXX

UCAF Date: 2525/2/21

6 weeks later…

The UCAF had been rolling back, ever since the battle on Prodigal and Haven, it's been a nightmare, the covenant push was astounding, their forces called into something that they call a crusade, pushed into the depths of the UCAF space by roughly 250 light years in less than 2 months, the UCAF forces had been on full defence afterwards and had just held the covenant back at bay. Colonies across UCAF space had to be abandoned with many being left behind and others left to fight, it was a gruelling war.

Shepard had been on the front line with the recon task force for the whole engagement and had seen enough in his short time to know that this was getting nowhere. The marines were being called in however for a special mission, one that wasn't going to require them to deal with more covenant than the rest of the UCAF forces.

A UCAF outpost in the Nu Arizona Strata went quiet about 1 day before and it was now up to them to go and recover the information that the scientists had been working on, and also to search for the info on the covenant that the science team might have found. But Shepard knew that the eggheads there weren't just for research, they were development for new weapons and tech.

The marines were going in first to search the Black Mesa Research Complex, the largest of the other 4 operating stations in the system. Black Mesa was supposedly going into quantum transmission theories and development of quantum FTL communications; it wasn't hard to figure out that they were critical.

Kyle and Jamie were on a pelican this time, the marines weren't going to be able to deploy in the atmosphere. Mira had transferred to pelican duties much to her dismay, but she found that it wouldn't be fair to leave her favourite team hanging with some dumbass who didn't know how to dodge like she could.

But then again, Shepard remembered when she dodged one time that he flew through the front window of a shop and had to cut the line inside of a building. He still couldn't imagine how she managed to screw up a simple drop in the middle of a street. Once he buckled up and sat down next to new found friends, Camaro and Chester arrived with the rest of the squad and sat down in their own seats.

Shepard felt right at home in here, Mira called over the line humming something.  
>"We're green for go, hang on boys; we're in for a bumpy ride!"<p>

The gunships jerked downwards and then moved to the planet at best speeds; Mira headed the pack formation as they hit the atmosphere and descended to the planet below. Shepard held his mattock next to his leg as he flipped through the contents of his journal and made his last entry and sealed it at the ship, he'd call it something nice one day, if anyone would read of the soldiers of the 81st recon.

The gunships hit the atmosphere at velocity and slowed as they reached the airspace above the Black Mesa complex. Mira was scanning for any activity, she found nothing, but there was no response from the UCAF research outpost, they knew that this was probably the only response, which either meant that everyone was asleep or they were dead.

The pelican hit rough winds as they entered into a stormy region, the airspace above the site was rough tonight, and the monsoon like rainfall would be hitting the region in droves thanks to the tropical climate of the entire world. The gunship hit the waypoint marker as it reached visual range of the base.

Shepard peeled out from his seat and went to check at the back of the gunship, he could see the facility somewhat, it was glowing dimly in the heavy rain, but you could still make out the ground below. Mira alerted the marines.  
>"Hang on boys we've got some chops, we'll be hitting the ground in 30 seconds."<p>

Chester gave them their orders again.  
>"Remember marines, we're now in a hostile zone. HIGH COM ordered it free fire, as the base had gone quiet, but do not assume anything, anything that isn't human kill it, any personnel alive must be detained for extraction. More importantly John Rosenberg, Daniel Tenos, Gordon Freeman, and Alec Marikov are our main objectives; they function as the heads of this research facility and must be located."<p>

They nodded, Mira hit the hatch release and the marines jumped into the rain. The landing pad was here, but hard to see, they kept their eyes out for targets around them, there were no contacts and Shepard moved along with the other members of the squad down the level. They kept their eyes peeled for any movement from the area.

As they reached another platform just before the entrance, Shepard noticed something, the cameras on the walls of the facility were gone, and the lights were destroyed or damaged. Jamie then halted them. The marines were just outside the doors to the main complex, Jamie sniffed the air.  
>"What is it?" Camaro asked.<p>

"Gas, methane, ethane, combinations of fumes, plasma…" He replied.

The marines knew what that meant, and of course the covenant also knew what it meant. The marines ducked under shipping crates and scattered cargo containers as fire suddenly burst from above and in front of them. Shepard could tell that this was something the covenant had been planning for some time.

The gunfire was continuous, Shepard brought his mattock around and fired a dozen bursts and blew apart the gunners on the top of the roof. He then sprinted across the field with Kyle and Jamie; they rushed the guns at the front with ease and mowed the covenant down. Chester and the others caught up and waited as Kyle breached the doors.

Once they slid open, Chester paused as he heard something over the coms. He then halted Shepard and the others.  
>"There's been new orders issued to you Shepard, team 8 just commented that they found a scientist who found records that our target Freeman is in the area, he's on lambda complex, 2 levels down, we're the closest to his position, but we can't all go after him."<p>

"Sir you want us to extract him by ourselves?" Shepard asked.

"That's all that's going to be required Shepard, it shouldn't be a hard task, he's one scientist. The man can be found travelling to the centre facility at lambda; you can reach him by taking some of the lifts down and making the rest of the way on foot." Chester answered.

Shepard felt that something wasn't right here, but he acknowledged and followed the new objective, he and Jamie and Kyle took their leave and followed their target through the map given. They entered the second lobby to the main complex, it was much more cramped, but it was easy to see things in front of them.

They travelled onwards to their target; they went around a lot of shortcuts and almost no bodies. The facility of lambda was almost completely empty. They reached another section where they found the bodies of a few dozen covenant troops mangled by whatever had come through. This was a strange sight, there wasn't that many things that could do to a whole force of covenant troops.

They continued on and found a bridge where it connected to the rest of the facility, they were just near the core, and Jamie got to work and ripped open the door to an airlock and opened it up. They passed into another room where they found plenty of munitions and what looked like prototype guns, Shepard would have loved to stay and look at them, but the target was moving erratically on his scanner.

It was then that the lights began to shudder and dim, and then the lights turned back on as the whole station began to shake. Shepard wondered.  
>'What the hell are these people doing?'<p>

They entered into a final airlock this time with reinforced doors; Shepard hit the switch with his UCAF override code and opened the doors wide enough for them to watch as their target a 23 year old Gordon Freeman ran into a swirling portal of blue in an orange UCAF hazard MKIII suit. The marines watched as the portal collapsed as it closed, they rushed in completely surprised at what just happened.

"Where, what?" Kyle exclaimed.

It was then that they looked over at a command console and found their other target, a brown haired Rosenberg put his hands up and said.  
>"Don't shoot I'm part of the science team."<p>

Shepard and the marines secured their target, but what was bugging him was that there was a giant 3 pronged spire in the facility which seemed to work as a FTL teleporter. What the hell was going on? The marine let the others take Rosenberg back through to the lobby while Shepard remained there to secure the room.

Shepard couldn't tell, but it seemed as if the machine that he was looking at was alive or not, it seemed emanate a glow that he couldn't quite shake. He moved carefully and looked down at a console where a cluster of glowing lights blinked and changed; he pressed his finger on one and suddenly felt something.

"**Y**oU **Mu**sT Not L**ET** Th**Em** Ta**KE** IT!" A voice screamed in his head.

He staggered about suddenly with his vision blurry; he then felt a shudder and jolt as something passed through him. He looked down and found that there was a smouldering hole in his torso, he turned about with whatever energy he had left and saw him. Aaron pointed his modified M6 and said.  
>"Sorry corporal, nothing personal."<p>

There were 2 more shots and Shepard fell to the ground, his eyepiece screamed out emergency. But he would die, knowing the truth.

XXXXX

Sadly I had to cut this short due to the amount of spoilers that would be involved for the Freeman arc if it was to come into play, as G Freeman and the others of Black Mesa were to tell their stories, don't worry Freeman will be coming in the aftermath of another arc. For now just know that there are many secrets within the UCAF and this was one of them.

**Aaron is evil who'd have thought it? **


	22. Chapter 22

CH22

The Interlude- Part 1 Aftermath

XXXXX

When Shepard returned to the fleet he went out of his way to get the body of Adrian into the nearest medical lab as soon as possible, the news of his uncle's death was never heard of and only that he was listed as MIA when the operations on Prodigal went to hell. The records indicated the corporal was sent on a UCAF mission in Nu Arizona during the early years in the war, but the operation was concealed, due to the sensitive content involved.

However that mission was about 33 years ago, and his family was never told of what had happened to Adrian. And now this, his uncle had been found, but this only raised more questions that answered, his uncle was dead, but under whose command? Shepard wanted answers and he wanted them as soon as possible.

Back on Omega Aria and him spoke before he left, she had told him that if the UCAF was withdrawing that meant that the council had convinced the UCAF and UNSC. Which meant that his operations against the wanted turian was all but moot, he wasn't going to accept defeat yet though, he needed to prove that Saren was involved no matter what.

But first he needed an autopsy of his dead uncle. There was something he needed to know, who killed him? Upon getting his uncle's corpse to the med bay the medical professional, a man named House got to work. A cynical fellow from what Shepard had learnt, the man was a genius in the field of medicine, but was heavily medicated for some mental illness.

The good doctor commented.  
>"You sure know how to pick em, so who is this?"<p>

"My uncle doc. And I need to know the cause of death." Shepard replied.

House looked at him with a long look and then turned back to the body, the container for the body glowed as the doctor went to work.  
>"I'll need to defrost him; if he's been preserved there should be something from the wounds that might reveal more. You'll have to wait outside colonel; this process will take some time."<p>

Shepard acknowledged and went out the door; he was greeted by the sounds of the marines getting medical attention and others who had come to see their comrades who had survived the battle for Omega. Shepard had left Mikael to group the marines down in the hangar to get a full head count, the helldivers needed to recover for any losses of marines.

Carol had returned from her mission into the unknown, she had gone straight to ONI, Shepard suspected that she had more to tell them about what had happened on the station, to which he remembered to go speak to her once the autopsy was completed. Matthew was busy speaking to a few officers on what reports of the end of the war, he wasn't too happy to hear what HIGH COM had pulled.

But then again, who was happy that this war had just ended without the UCAF being victorious, but the hostiles being driven off? Matthew was furious, he was fighting since the start of the war, he had seen much more than any other helldiver from the start, he wasn't going to let this down if the damn politicians got their way.

Shepard remained passive and confused, he was wading deeper into the pits of whatever was going on and it was making him nervous, it was becoming so blurred. The fine line for the UCAF and the reason why it existed, had HIGH COM actually ordered the withdrawal for political reasons? Had it finally taken the stance of passive integration into this galaxy without consulting the rest of the people involved?

He doubted it, but there was something wrong with all of this, the UCAF would never have backed down without at least letting the extended forces deal with real threats, and as far as the marines were concerned, Saren was a real threat and his actions with the reapers had shown this. The UCAF was under threat and the human race, but why had the war been ended?

He sat there pondering the thoughts of the end, but the only one thought that made any sense was that of the ONI intel officer who was under his command. Ackerman was cautious and he had told Shepard what he needed to know, but that warning from before, was he right? Had the UCAF been infiltrated from the shadows? He didn't know, this war was something he had never wanted, but it had happened. But he needed to see Saren pay, and that was his pure most driven goal, and now that had been stripped away.

He sat there thinking what to do; his mind was filled with puzzles and riddles. There were individuals involved that he couldn't see, but he couldn't find them, because he couldn't see them in the first place. Shepard waited around until he heard the sound of the med lab for House open. Shepard sat up immediately and asked.

"What's the condition doctor?" He inquired.

House looked at him and told him.  
>"You better come and see it for yourself colonel, this is something that I shouldn't say out here." House motioned to the door.<p>

Shepard followed him in and House locked the door behind him. The doctor rubbed his temples and seemed to be rather distressed at what he had examined, he paused for a moment while Shepard looked at him with concern, House didn't act the way he did unless it was serious, for house this was serious.

"Colonel, I've seen wounds from plasma fire to shrapnel from shattered rounds, but in my career I had never seen deliberate kills of friendlies, even during riots on colonies, the police never use live ammo, and in FF situations the bullets never penetrate that far. But this…" He gestured to the corpse of Adrian. "…was deliberate murder." He finished.

"What killed him?" Shepard asked.

"A bullet, or to be more precise, a 44cal fired from a UCAF M6H custom class pistol only issued to those of independent stature and rank. Your uncle was shot 3 times by a friendly on purpose, each aimed at crucial organs and with lethal precision. This was an act of murder." House explained.

Shepard looked over at the body, he could see the burnt outlines of the shots, and those were modified HEAP rounds, ionic High Explosive Armour Piercing rounds. Whoever shot him was damn accurate, none of the rounds missed an organ or a critical section, all had struck with precision. He looked back to the doctor and asked.

"Was there any signs of internal recording disks in his brain?" He asked.

"None, Colonel, your uncle was recruited during a time when the cards and disks were rarely used, so there's no recording of what happened, and his eyepiece which held the combat data was removed with his pack. There's no way to track his killer." House ended.

If House hadn't found any traces of anyone's hands on his body or traces, Shepard might as well be hunting for a needle in a pile of needles. House then informed him.  
>"I'll give my report to HIGH COM on the status of your uncle commander, but please be advised, if this was deliberate, then you should watch yourself for now. There's a lot of danger involved with certain secrets." House warned him.<p>

Shepard acknowledged and left the med bay, he found himself confused, what the hell was going on that his uncle was dead, he was now being hunted by alien machines from the depths of space and the whole universe seemed to be out on its way to gut him in any shape or form. He shook the thoughts of his position from his mind and refreshed, Uncle Adrian was murdered 30 years ago for unknown reasons and the UCAF is obviously hiding something considering that his uncle's corpse was found on that alien station.

He was getting uneasy and he needed answers, which had killed Adrian Shepard? He needed to know. He got from the med labs to the barracks, he passed into his office with ease and began to search, the only place he could think of was the recorded data from ONI and the UCAF 81st marines, he brought up the post active files on what had happened and looked for who was involved.

He found his target after 30 minutes of sifting through UCAF and ONI data, an officer named Lt JA 09553, and 4 other agents were present in the field that day. But he still couldn't figure out what might have gone wrong that his uncle had been murdered. He flipped through the events of what the marines had been ordered to do; Shepard found that his father was tasked with the hunt for the lead scientists, Rosenberg, Klein, and Freeman.

Freeman vanished before the marines could locate him, Klein went underground and Rosenberg was arrested by the ONI, there was no other record on what had happened though. Shepard flicked through some other data such as surveillance footage of the marines entrance into the base and who was going where.

But all the surveillance footage was removed, there was nothing besides this summary of events, what had Adrian found that the ONI didn't want him to know about? Shepard's search was interrupted, he answered it.  
>"Who is it?"<p>

Over the coms replied.  
>"Ackerman."<p>

Shepard put his pistol in his pocket, and opened the door; the ONI Lt was rather perturbed looking at the moment.  
>"Sir, I noticed that you found out about Adrian?" The ONI officer inquired.<p>

"Yes, and I was going to go looking for you." Shepard replied.

The officer walked through the front door with a package in his arms and said.  
>"You might want to close the door, what I need to talk to you about, is between me and you, and no one else."<p>

Shepard closed the door, he didn't like it, but Ackerman had yet to back stab him. The ONI officer pulled the package apart and revealed its contents to Shepard, the colonel was stunned. There was a M6, a modified variant M6 with the initials, 'AJ' engraved into the side of it. This was from James Aaron of the ONI corps, the one in the operations.

Then it hit Shepard.  
>"It was Aaron."<p>

The ONI Lieutenant sighed and answered. "Yes, Aaron was under orders from command to keep things tight, the UCAF wasn't allowed to know more than what was seen, but your uncle took a step in the wrong direction and Aaron was forced to kill him, because of what he saw." Acker explained distastefully.

"And what did my uncle see?" Shepard threw a glance at the ONI officer.

"The future, or the possible future, if the human race failed to stop what was going to come." Acker replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Shepard said baffled.

"Your uncle made a mistake by accidently stumbling upon an ancient device, known as an inversion projection system, a network of quantum gates linked across the galaxy, but the problem was that it wasn't made for human contact, and those who encase themselves within the machines are suddenly given images, or should I say memories of other entities. What happened to Adrian was that he had accessed one of these images by accident, and was engulfed." He took a breath.

"Or so the report states, from my own personal opinion, Aaron didn't know what happened. Shepard, you need to know this, what your uncle uncovered was a reaper's network, and one that had been inactive until the time of the attack. It stored billions of bits of data about the whole galaxy and where the forerunners had been, it was that reason that the covenant were after it during that time. And it might explain how the reapers know of you, when Adrian imprinted his mind into the subconscious of the reapers; they suddenly saw their greatest enemy."

"But what happened to Aaron?" Shepard asked.

Acker moved around and replied.  
>"Aaron is dead, or at least physically, his body was obliterated during an attack made by the first contact with the flood. Or so the ONI reported, even I don't know what happened to Aaron's body, but he did die."<p>

"Really, then what about the AI?" Shepard asked.

Ackerman was startled, he knew of Aaron's AI? He recomposed himself and replied.  
>"The AIs memory was wiped out over 3 years ago, there's nothing to look at there, the ONI has covered all trails with agent Aaron and the incident Shepard, there's nothing more to look at. And I only came here to warn you. ONI doesn't like people who get involved with its history."<p>

Shepard got the picture, leave or die, and he could see that Acker had a hand behind him, probably a trigger for a neuron-toxin, he was tense, and Shepard could see it. Acker didn't like the idea, but he wasn't in any position to object, the ONI didn't want Shepard to start poking his nose at its business. And Shepard was smarter than this; he made a mental note to go back on this at an offline site.

"Fine, I'll drop it Lieutenant, but I warn you, if I find out that ONI has been hiding something I should know about, you'll be the first to know." He pointed a finger at Acker.

The lieutenant nodded and exited the room, hiding the trigger in his pocket and departing quietly. Shepard closed down his computer and looked at the M6, the gun that killed Adrian Shepard, no, the tool that was used to aid in the killing of Adrian Shepard. It wasn't a weapon that kills people, its people who kill people. And someone killed Adrian Shepard.

XXXXX

2 weeks later…

The UCAF fleet arrived at the Citadel for the next set of meetings, the delegations had been rough, the UCAF and UNSC fighting for the control of the main relays and control of some regions of space for their use. The UCAF wasn't going to let go of any of the colonies it founded and it wasn't willing to disband its forces from those regions.

The same went for the UNSC and was trailing closely behind on trying to broker a treaty for those colonies. The covenant was biding its time, Thel wasn't after anything, he was more cautious about the turians and the council races, and he didn't like any of it. They were either anything like or too much like the covenant in terms of actions and history.

The council refused to get into wars and yet used corporations to start wars and hid behind the bodies of those willing to fight while others died. The council sought to research into technology yet ignored advancement for ease of use, rather than painstaking work. The council didn't want war, yet it incited power to itself so that others bowed to it in pitiful grovelling.

The covenant and the humans would never bow to the whims of the council, and that was what was being played out in the council chambers almost constantly now. The UCAF refused to allow the council access to its resources until the council let the UCAF take the colonies it had captured and made as its own. The batarians were the firm opposition with pointed fingers and heated debates that the UCAF were nothing more than pests to which won only to barbaric tactics and weapons.

The UCAF major in the room almost showed him how barbaric a soldier of the human race could have been if the helldivers present hadn't stopped him. Thel would have loved to see that happen to the arrogant bigoted creature that the batarians were, they hissed at the covenant and the UCAF constantly and marched with protests for the cease fire.

The council was about to throw the book at them if they didn't desist with the insults at the other races. But that didn't help the mood at all; the tension was still high in the air as the UCAF had been gathered to discuss the conditions of the spectre named Saren Arterius. Colonel Shepard of the UCAF Helldivers 88th had been called into the meeting to discuss the situation and he was going at this with a vengeance.

In the council chambers the crowds hushed as the legendary commander entered into the chambers, many turians knew of Shepard as the legendary hunter of the stars, he took down and wiped out a number of turian bases by himself and his forces. Turians dreaded the man who was Shepard, as they knew he had been on a quest of vengeance for Shanxi and his family. Up until recently when he was assigned to another mission.

And now that mission was completed, or so the council thought, the colonel had no longer the need to hunt their most prized spectre. The asari councillor began.  
>"This convening of the council is now in session, Colonel Shepard of the UCAF, you bring accusations of the Spectre Saren Arterius of treason and conspiracy against the UCAF. Do you have evidence?"<p>

The colonel brought up the image of the battle of Omega and the other image captured from the Quarian Migrant fleet, thanks to the aid from some other members of the UCAF there was enough evidence. But something didn't feel right. He began.  
>"There is your evidence, only 2 weeks prior, the UCAF engaged the beings known as the collectors on the station of Omega, as the battle drew to a close we engaged a turian much like Saren on Omega, he was in command of the collectors attacks on Omega and I find him also responsible for other incidents."<p>

The room was at an uproar of objections and arguments, the council races didn't like this at all, they heard of Saren's battles against the UCAF and how he was regarded as a hero of the turian people he could never betray them or the council. The council shouted for order and so it quietened down. The turian councillor addressed this.  
>"You bring an image of the supposed rogue? How quaint colonel Shepard, however you have made a rather large error in judgement."<p>

Shepard was startled. And so were the others in the room. An image of Saren on a secondary holo-projector came online and it was Saren from a safe distance come to defend himself.  
>"I resent these accusations brought before the council; I could not have been there, because I was here on the Citadel for the past 3 months."<p>

There was a murmur of confusion, Shepard and the other members of the UCAF were baffled. The screen showed then that there was an image from security recordings from multiple sources of Saren being on the presidium and other locations only on the Citadel. He then began.  
>"I was hunting a trail for a supposed weapons dealer who was suspected of delivering information of turian fleets to the human's strange information network here. I was constantly in communications with the council during this period of time, and no one saw me depart on any shuttle during this time, even the ballot officers at their posts reported that I had never left this station in the past 3 months."<p>

The whole crowd was in an uproar jeering at Shepard, who then went.  
>"If that isn't you, then how come he sounds just like you?"<p>

Shepard hit the replay on the combat recorder for Anderson's combat log.  
>"This isn't over!" The voice distinctly like Saren's yelled over the wash of engines.<p>

Saren's eyes narrowed.  
>"That sounds like me. However there are others who also sound like me such as my brother, Desolas. However Desolas cannot be here at the moment, as I had lost contact with him over 2 months ago during an incident prior to our current situation. If your recording is correct, you must have mistaken me for my brother, we do share striking resemblances."<p>

Shepard knew where this was going.  
>"So you're stating that your brother is now in league with the collectors and is using your cover to get illegal activities done against the UCAF and the council? While in multiple places at the same time?"<p>

Saren looked baffled as the image of 2 turian appeared, striking resemblance to him or his brother, they were in both locations only hours apart, and everyone knew that travel by FTL and relays took nearly days, especially since the location of Omega was over one quarter of the distance of the galaxy.

Saren knew that he was in a tight situation now.  
>"Well I shouldn't know how this is possible, this is my brother who had severed all communications with me for the past 2 months how should I know how or who is doing this. And there is no evidence that I have betrayed the council."<p>

"True as that maybe Saren, but you've forgot the fact that Desolas is your relative and biological brother. That calls into question your loyalties to the council and to the safety of the galaxy. I request that Saren Arterius is withheld for questioning regarding the incident. And suspend his title as spectre until Desolas is either captured or killed." Shepard said to the council.

There was uproar of anger at the human, the matter was of honour in the eyes of the turians, and this was putting it at shame as Saren would not be able to confront his brother. But there was some agreement that this was necessary as the spectre had claimed that he had no knowledge of his brother's activities which seemed out of place as they were close. Not to mention the doppelganger in the images were too much like Saren, the council would be forced to suspend Saren either way, until the whole thing was cleaned up by someone.

The councillors shouted for order in the chambers and eventually it took Thel and shout that stopped the arguing in a burst of noise that deafened half the room. The councillors took a moment to recover and address Shepard.  
>"You have brought evidence that Saren's brother has been linked to the events of the battle of Omega and The Migrant Fleet incident, and it has proven that an inquiry is required to determine the loyalty of the Citadel's finest spectre, and it shall be done so as soon as possible. In the meantime however colonel you may rest your case as the situation at hand has been unable to prove Saren's involvement. At the time being, the inquiry shall take place and we shall provide the UCAF with all findings on Saren's actions in the past years."<p>

Shepard knew that the council was nervous, he had just called into question one of their best and pointed to them to take responsibility of that agents actions. The council was left without much choice, it at least didn't prove that Shepard was right, but it didn't help that their judgement had to be directly by the book, they couldn't skirt around the law by the rules of the spectre special status, and if Saren was in doubt then he had to be suspended regardless.

He addressed the council one last time before he stood back.  
>"We didn't start this war councillor, but we ended it."<br>The councillors wondered in confused expressions of what he meant by his statement, but before they could ask he left the stage.

The turian councillor looked over at his fellow council members who were going for the idea. The councillors voted.  
>"Very well, it is in the interest of the public and of us that Saren Arterius is not guilty and all charges of treason are dropped, however his status as Spectre is to be suspended pending investigations of allegations of treason of fellow family member. This council is now adjourned."<p>

The crowd began to chatter amongst themselves about the meeting, Saren vanished off into a flicker of light, probably not too happy with the fact that he was nearly caught. Shepard felt as if he was at his wits end, the UCAF had done all it could and yet the damned reapers were still ahead of them, and the ONI had secrets which involved his family's past. Not to mention the questionable operations which the ONI were executing now that the UCAF had formed with them, and the mysterious reason as to why the war ended. The UCAF had only specified that the war ended for the interests of the senate, but even in the senate there were some doubts that everything had been addressed, but HIGH COM was adamant to avoid confronting anyone about it.

Shepard left the council chambers, but not to go home, where was home? He went to his command once more, but he knew what was waiting for him when he got there.

XXXXX

2558/10/12

White flashes of lights as the UCAF Admiral Hackett gave him the medal of Nova Prime; he had earned the medal from battling the reapers on Omega and his years of successful command against the elusive enemy. This all had led to his temporary departure from the military, on this day; he was being signed off from UCAF command under orders from HIGH COM.

Shepard had little choice in this situation, he had been in command of his force since the beginning, how it had been over 3 years since he assumed command, and it was time for him to retire temporarily. The UCAF command was undergoing a reformation, the UCAF and UNSC had to sign a compromise treaty with the council and the other races to isolate itself beyond its own relay and keep it as a simple bridge between the UCAF/UNSC and the council.

But on the other side of the relay in the Traverse the systems which were captured by the UCAF, the colonies were to become independent. The USC, United Systems Coalition was formed as the government of the outer colonies in the Traverse; the UCAF was to withdraw with all its forces with the Covenant.

This was all under the pact to keep peace within the Traverse with this external human force that was to be less threatening; it was in truth a farce. The colonies founded were all UCAF influenced many sporting military and paramilitary forces of ex-marines. The whole thing was meant to keep the UCAF at ease that they'd be kept up to date with all of the galaxy's events and as payment for the devastation of Shanxi.

The batarians weren't happy about the treatment and withdrew their influence from Citadel space, the UCAF and the Council didn't honestly care what they did, in the eyes of the UCAF the batarians were ignorant bigots. USC forces were busy trying to re-establish military forces, but were heavily monitored by the council races; the human race was essentially under constant scrutiny from all powers now that it had founded its colonies.

Needless to say, the war had left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth and the human race was going to try and avoid another conflict. At least for now, the situation in the colonies was rather tense, but the people seemed calm about it, they knew that by now the UCAF had little option but to honour the treaty and depart. Only when the colonies should be threatened the UCAF would reinstate itself within the colonies to defend them.

But the UCAF wouldn't be able to move as flexibly, as majority of its forces would be restricted to the colonies, and the colonies themselves had to fight. It was an arduous treaty but it suited both sides, at least in the sense that the council would allow it. Shepard felt that the council was pushing against the UCAF involvement in the colonies due to the high anti-alien sentiments that remained, but that wasn't it; the council wanted the colonies to be isolated from the UCAF. And that was what made him angry, the UCAF had compromised.

And it cost him his position as the commander of the 88th, all for whatever reason the ONI didn't want to continue the war. And that raised a lot more questions than it solved, but at least it did give time for Shepard to think, something he needed to do, before he left the UCAF for his temporary leave, he got help from some old friends.

XXXXX

ONI: SEC III

Ackerman stood in the chamber, the one place he disliked even more than being forced to lie to Shepard and doing it right in his face. Ackerman stood patiently, the voice of ONI ONE spoke out.  
>"We appraise to your situation Lieutenant Commander, you have done well in keeping our agenda from Shepard, and you have relocated the body of Adrian Shepard back into ONI hands?"<p>

"Yes ma'am, Adrian's body has been placed back into cryo-storage for now, Shepard doesn't know of what happened, but I do have some concerns." He voiced.

"What might these be Lieutenant?" ONI asked.

"The UCAF HIGH COM had agreed unwillingly to the treaty, but how did the senate vote on the treaty? Those demands were outrageous for the outer colonies. Their forces have been halved and the forces on those worlds are mainly paramilitary not fully fledged troops, not to mention almost all advancements of UCAF weaponry had been restricted under order of the council. They almost got the quarians banned from going anywhere near colonial space, until Anderson and Hackett stood against the vote." Acker said with dispassionate hate.

ONI replied.  
>"It was necessary Ackerman, and we hope that you of all people understand that there are something's even we have to do. But the nature of our operations and the causes to why the colonies have been isolated is purely for another one of those reasons. The time will come soon enough for the UCAF to take this back to the council, but not now."<p>

Ackerman knew that they were skirting his answer.  
>"Very well."<p>

The room lit back up and Acker stood in his room annoyed at the outcome. Had this war been all for nothing? Had the ONI abandoned the UCAF ideals for another cause? But what is it? Acker smashed his fist through the metal of his desk and let his hand bleed soft yellow liquid. The servos in his arm screeched from the impact.

"What the hell was it worth?" He asked himself.

XXXXX

Somewhere else…

His body felt numb, but alive, not in the human sense of living. He rolled out of the protrusion he had been stuck in, the liquids steaming off of his body; he felt his body ache from the amount of pressure which had been placed on it during the escape. His eyes lit up and his face which had been partially mutated cracked a horrendous smile.

"It's good to be alive…" Joseph said to himself.

XXXXX

Update: I have gone back to correct any mistakes on this document and have corrected the father mistake. Please refer to any others.

(Okay, there's an interesting turnabout, ONI had influenced the vote of the UCAF senate and council to accept the treaty placed in front of them, there were a few minor gaps and soon you'll know enough. But yes, under the circumstances, Shepard had been forced to withdraw from the UCAF military for a temporary retirement from the 88th helldivers until they could sort out what was going to happen.)

We next have a time skip to the final events of Daniel Shepard and the UCAF 88th, not to mention another face is returning again!


	23. Chapter 23

CH23

For the Future

ACT I: The Shepard and his flock…

(That's right boys and girls this is the proper ending that I've come up with and this time I'm going ahead with a separate course of events. We're going on a rather precarious field trip to the present and the past, this one's on me.) But yeah I'm really wrecking the spoilers for one of my other fics by doing this but who cares? This is damn good material, sorry for going away BTW I've had family problems and you can't image how annoying that can get for me.

XXXXX

Time-lapse: 18 months after the Treaty of Shanxi

Location: Jeva'ril IV

Time: 12:34 PM

Even though it was supposed to be roughly mid-day it was darker than night on Jeva, the planet was about 2 and a half times the size of earth and had 4 moons, not to mention being a fair distance away from its own sun it had a rotation that was somewhat slight. The cold night air seemed to permeate through the whole town, but that didn't seem to faze a worn young marine in deep orange and yellow coloured armour with white markings of his colony.

The marine carefully scanned the perimeter of the town as he usually did for the stakeouts in the outer colonies of the newly formed coalition. Jeva was on the border of the turian hierarchy and was a prime refuelling spot for exploration crafts and trade vessels. The only thing was it was abandoned during the war. After multiple attack reports and several investigations the refuelling spot had been abandoned and those left behind remained behind.

The council races who remained in contact with Jeva had hundreds of reports of people going missing and strange sightings of foreign beings that were not of local fauna, at least not that those people could confirm from their homes. Things got interesting about 1 month ago when a hunting group which were running short of fuel came down out of desperation, however they came right in the midst of a storm and were forced to land about 40 miles from the nearest refuelling station.

Those hunters had gone off and left half of their friends back at the ship while they went out to go and get fuel, however the group which had gone to get fuel never came back, a smaller group went out and searched for the others, they ended up finding their friends dead. Emergency signals were sent out to the nearest turian outpost that there was something of incredible strength and speed that was stalking the region, and that a whole team of hunters were now dead because of it.

The turian outpost reported to investigate when they could but didn't arrive until 3 days after the ship which called for help went dead silent. When the turian authorities arrived at the site, they found that the whole ship had been ripped open in multiple sections; half of the hull was either gone or torn from its place.

The turian patrols quickly sent out search teams, but reported nothing more than blood and the vehicles left behind, but they did find one thing that was averted from public eyes and knowledge. There was a discovery made at a cave nearby from the crash site of one survivor who was barely alive, he stated before he died that. "It wasn't anything we had seen… sharp crystal eyes, blackened carapace… it was living metal…" -Kurin Vessar.

The young pilot died with a sharp piece of unidentified metal wedged exactly between his heart and his vertebrae were, the weapon used was stated to have been alien in design, no known craftsmanship or design for any known race, it was a curved blade like talon and it shimmered a deep navy blue, it had small fragments that came off when touched, but were discovered to have been nano-cell machines.

The UCAF had gotten the reports through the ONI; this was then acquired by someone important and given to Zaeed's contractor, who was determined to find answers. Those nano-machines were tested at a UCAF base secretly three days ago and were confirmed to have been reaper in origination. This had brought Zaeed and ex-members of the Helldivers here, Jeva provided them a rare chance, to find the connection.

The connection between the reapers and the Citadel was a hard one. If there were any high class members of the Council that had any connections to the reapers, if so this lead could provide evidence to bringing the reapers to public attention and get the damned council off its lazy ass for once.

Zaeed had hoped for a bit more activity, but he had learnt to be patient in his time with his mercenary team, these boys he was with had been recruited from UCAF units that were dissatisfied with the treaty, they believed that the council should have done more, and that the turians had gotten scot free for a number of things since the treaty.

It was true the council had inflicted a lot of problems to the new Independent Systems Coalition; it was getting bad enough that the ISC was having border incidents with the Batarian homogeny, as the tensions rose and fell the UCAF and the Covenant were prepared to intervene, which did ward off any chance of attack to the colonies from batarians and pirates, but even so it wasn't making things easy.

The ISC was essentially a neutral zone protected by the covenant and the UCAF and the UNSC, all had a major stake in the region as a known power to the galaxy, of course the council did wish to make it neutral so that the UCAF and the covenant didn't have as many patrols or forces in the zone, but that didn't dissuade the more hostile batarians or the raiding parties of krogans and turian pirates.

Things have been going bad enough that the UCAF and ONI had been preoccupied with the various other problems while the members of this break off faction of troops operated independently. Zaeed was only grateful for that alone, and also the few most trusted people he had by his side for this job.

""BEEP""

Zaeed peeled his attention from the scope as he checked his monitor as it began to rapidly blink and beep, the marine was right on the target, this thing whatever it was, was going to have a lot more than prey on its damned ass. Zaeed loaded a full hotshot into his .44 magazine and prepared to spring the trap.

"This is Zaeed, target is on location, Terry was right. This thing follows a pattern. Its moving between the building just across from me and approaching due west of the abandoned bank and the local market stalls, get ready to light the fucker up." He relayed to his boys.

5 blinks responded to him in his HUD of the scope as he focused his rifle upon the location of the coming reaper enhanced being, whatever it was, it was going to receive a head full of heavy .44 anti-armour rounds through its skull.  
>"Okay boys its 80 meters out, on my mark, fire."<p>

The orders didn't need to be repeated they knew how Zaeed worked, the heavy hammer fashion, beat the living crap out of the thing until it either flew apart or gave up. Either way worked for the hardened marine, he was a man of action and his actions spoke volumes about how he handled a lot of his problems.

As the target moved into view Zaeed got a glimmer of the carapace body, it was chitin like, but had lines or gaps of blue lines that ran along the back and front of the thing, it was definitely not native. He confirmed the sighting through his scope and sent back a live feed to the command module on the other side of the abandoned town.

That bastard better be satisfied with his find because Zaeed was about to riddle the thing with holes.  
>"Fire!" He ordered.<p>

From around the town sniper fire lit up the once darkened streets, the sudden flash of illumination made it almost impossible to see what the hell was going on, streaks of gold and silver seemed to contrast with the darkness as they pelted the location of the reaper enhanced entity. The thing ran from its position, trying to get to cover as the marines continued to fire upon it.

Zaeed took his turn with his .44 and fired 2 rounds above where he'd guess were its diaphragm and the other between its vertebrae. That would cripple the thing enough to let them finish it off. His shots were well placed, but sadly reapers aren't easy to kill things and neither are their creations, his rounds punched clean through but not to the effect of crippling, the reaper enhanced being shrugged the damage off, the .44 rounds did kick it hard, but only stunned the large beast.

"Shit!" He called. "Fire inferno and pulse cartridges, go loud!"

The marines acknowledged and changed to their non-standard ammo, the inferno shots lit the area in fire as the phosphorous charged ammo tore into the hide of the reaper beast and seemed to burn away slowly. It wasn't enough though; Zaeed pulled his own special ammo, the thermite Scorcher ammo.

He loaded it into his rifle which he changed from its original sniper variant into a short stock bullpup rifle; he rose from his position and began to fire in short bursts at the reaper beast. The thing seemed to be rather resilient to the sheer wall of fire it was receiving, however it was unable to advance because of the concentrated fire.

It decided to break for it rather than face the marines any longer, the thing jumped to a roof nearby and vaulted over the tops of buildings to escape the trap.  
>"Damn, this is HK-1 we have target in sight, we are pursuing on ground." Zaeed called over his com to the nearby command team.<p>

The marines packed it as they rushed through the dark streets of the town, the heavy clanking of the beast was rather easy to follow consider it wasn't trying to avoid making too much noise. Zaeed knew that it was trying to get into the plains nearby, there they'd lose the reaper because of the thick grassland and nearby trees would make it difficult to track. It was also faster than the marines.

Zaeed had an idea; of course it wasn't going to be easy, or painless.  
>"You corner the fucker when it tries to make it across to the centre, it's the shortest way to the park, and I've got to get right on it."<p>

The marines nodded, they knew exactly what the vet was talking about, Zaeed had done stupid things before, and one of them was taking on anything bigger than himself in a fight, it was risky as hell, but that was Zaeed, the most ruthless son of a bitch this side of the galaxy, or by default that he's the 22nd hardest to kill bastard next to a certain shock trooper who fought during the war.

As the marines sprinted to route the beast, Zaeed took to the shadows, he knew where he was going and all it took was some speed and a lot of luck. He broke through the backdoor to one abandoned shop and sprinted to a staircase nearby; he went up 2 flights before he arrived at the window overlooking a lower level garage.

His motion tracker had pinned the beast heading right around the building, it was going to come right around the bend of the garage to escape. He took a few steps back and took a forward bolt as he jumped from the shop to the garage; he landed in a crouched roll and got back on his feet. Zaeed felt something ache in his legs, he knew that the years of drinking and shooting and getting shot were going to come and bite him back in the ass, but at this moment he shrugged off the minor pain and got in range of the moving target.

"Got you piece of shit." He mumbled as he jumped off of the roof and down onto his intended target.

The force of the armoured shock trooper plus the added weight took the reaper beast by surprise as Zaeed tackled the thing into the ground. The thing was stunned momentarily, but long enough for Zaeed to grab his shoulder blade to slice it across its throat. The knife went through the synthetic flesh of the beast. The thing seemed to struggle against the Helldiver modified Reaver Combat Knife, the energised knife lodged itself deep as Zaeed continued to struggle with the beast.

Eventually the thing stumbled about, it's bleeding of fluids taking its toll from the still mortal entity, and the thing dropped about 4 feet from the centre of the town. Zaeed felt the final motes of the twisted thing finally die as he drew out the 7 inch blade. He flicked the knife as he wiped it on his heavily armoured shoulder pad which held a ragged cloth; the cloth of the turian hierarchy flag which he took from one battle that was tied to his armour soaked the blood as it had for all of his knife kills, it was his last insult to the turian hierarchy for the massacre of Shanxi.

Zaeed watched as his fellow marines arrived, they stared at him in surprise and disbeliefs.  
>"What?" He asked them with a mocking smile.<p>

A chime came from his Nova-link gear; he answered with a calm report.  
>"This is Zaeed, we have target neutralized. So you coming down here or not?" He asked looking up at the seemingly empty night sky.<p>

The response to Zaeed's question was immediate as light blossomed out from the once empty patch of sky, the heavy thrumming noise of engines came down in a circling motion as the vessel uncloaked. The large shape became clear to anyone, it was a Helldiver gunship, an Aries heavy assault gunship, and this one sported a lot of differing components and equipment, such as the cloaking field.

As the gunship came to land before them, the rear hatch opened as a heavily armoured figure stood at the ramp. Zaeed's contractor made himself rather apparent, his voice piercing over the sounds of the gunship crisply in a professional manner.  
>"So I guess this means that I owe you a beer?" The silhouette asked.<p>

"Just cut to the damn chase Commander." Zaeed cracked.

Shepard stepped forwards from the high beam lights of the gunship, his figure was clear as day, the worn armour of the helldiver's 88th and the new markings of the 33rd legionaries. The commander changed well for being a hard to find mercenary. The commander had 1 long cut in the side of his face, his eyes looked slightly tired from the months that they had been endlessly watching for reports from his agents in the colonies and the surrounding region to provide him with a lead.

Zaeed stood away from the dead Reaper Enhanced Animal as Shepard strode over to get a clear look. The commander scrutinised the details of the work.  
>"This thing was probably taken from a nearby zoo, or probably a hunting world, no surprise there. But the markings are here…" He ran his hand along a strange marking that Zaeed couldn't see properly. "This thing was running on a preprogramed store, this means that there's a nearby link… Reona get over here."<p>

Reona, was a person who joined the Commander's cause during the aftermath of the war, she too found that the UCAF was too fast to drop the commander and his warnings, and was disappointed that this stalemate had been formed, it only proved that the UCAF was more willing to leave the turians be, their aggressive fashion and aggressive attitude to be unchallenged by anyone. The council was just a joke in the sense of war; they'd avoid acknowledging a true threat unless it came for them immediately or personally.

Reona was an average height woman, for her age, she had long black hair and wore an Operator class field suit to help her in the field work of researching dangerous entities, and dealing with injuries. She had been a colonial medic for about 3 years before becoming a part of Shepard's command.

She quickly worked around the cybernetic section of the reaper enhanced being which Shepard had marked for her. She got to work on the thing before saying anything, she was more or less a work-o-holic as many of the marines named her for, which in truth she had a rather sharp mind and she'd prefer working alone before letting anyone help her. It was okay at times, but the marines wished she'd actually bother to go do something else aside from working.

At this moment that habit of not caring or paying attention was probably the best thing to happen considering the sensitivity of the work that lay before her. The operator analysed the section of the reaper enhanced being, the neural core which had links with the possible reaper conduit or beacon. The scan took minutes to run until the source could be traced, afterwards Reo announced.  
>"I have the link; the source is coming roughly 240 miles north west of our location."<p>

Shepard looked at the direction given, it was clear that they had to get to the source of the link, it could mean the end of a long 12 month hunt for the damned reapers or another prolonged search for another lead. Shepard ordered.  
>"All teams converge upon given coordinates and position; I need that sector isolated now!" He ordered as he motioned for the squad to follow.<p>

The marines and the Operator were happy to be on their way, they'd be catching up with the reapers now and they'd either have one hell of a fight or one hell of a link. They'd be able to track the reapers down.

XXXXX

The mining town of Rou'ku was as dead as any other abandoned town or refinery. It had abandoned homes and businesses which once bustled with life which fed into the greater galaxy, but now just lay in either poor condition or completely dysfunctional. The only thing that remained that looked maintained was the nearby quarry, it was about a few hundred meters from the town, and it illuminated the area in bright spotlights.

The mining shaft there was supposed to have been cotton-balled since it failed to produce enough E-zero and minerals required for the town to thrive upon, so afterwards it became more of a depot for things people wanted to store. It was of course no surprise that someone wanted to store something else down there.

As the gunships of the Helldivers arrived, troops rushed about garrisoning the town and heading straight for the mining shaft. As they secured the area, they prepared for the imminent arrival of possible threats from reapers or the possible chance of being attacked by followers of the reapers.

Shepard's gunship landed in a rush, almost hitting the ground hard, Shepard disembarked from the side this time with Zaeed's squad and Reo besides him. They walked over to the mining shaft elevator where three engineers were busy wiring the elevator to work. One of the technical officers noticed Shepard and rushed over to him.  
>"Sir, we have secured the site and the elevator is about functional, someone put an effort to lock this damned thing tight."<p>

Shepard could see the techs busy cutting connections and rewiring a lot of machinery to get the lift running.  
>"How long's the power been on for?" He asked.<p>

"By the programmed power grid, this thing's been running for a while, as for the lift, we'll it's hard to say because there's no programming." The tech responded.

"Very well, get going, you'll need to get that lift ready for me and my troop, we have a schedule to keep." He stated clearly.

The tech nodded and rushed back to work, he got his fellow techs going at it as best they could, and it only took another 2 minutes before the lifts were running. Shepard and his troops got onto the lift and selected the lowest level, Shepard had a damn good feeling that he knew exactly what was there.

The trip down was one rather boring elevator trip; he honestly could have dropped faster than this lift could have been left for free-fall, which by example would be true. The elevator finally reached the bottom level of the mining shaft. In standard formation, Zaeed and his squad exited first to cover the area; they scanned carefully and then broke away as Shepard stepped out.

"Don't bother looking for them, the bastards aren't here, they've been gone for a while." Shepard stated.

"How the hell do you know?" Zaeed asked quizzically.

He pointed to the walls which had covered equipment and missing panels, there were obvious signs of movement which had been made a while back, and there was almost nothing else left to look at aside from one large grey coloured object sitting about in an amphitheatre like room.  
>"There's nothing here except us and the remaining core." He replied.<p>

They walked to the cylindrical object and searched around, there was no sign of any reapers, but a lot of medical equipment, the object itself was frosting from deep cold. Shepard knew what he found, another missing piece of the puzzle. He ran his hand on the top level of the glass and wiped away the frost. There he could see him, the one that led the UCAF to victory during the earliest campaigns against the covenant. The body in question was of a man with black hair and frozen blue eyes 6'5ft burly figure, he of course was frozen primarily for recovery, he was dead, but what made this person so different was his name tag, it still flashing under his torn vest, Major Alan Michael Jones. The name was false, only the ONI and a few known members know his real name, Spartan Alpha- Derek Gustav-0829, the failed Spartan.

XXXXX

31 years earlier…

UCAF Date: 2525/1/5

07:23 AM

UCAF Naval Operations Section: III

22nd Independent Colonial Operations Fleet/Prodigal

The 22nd Independent Forces were specifically an outstanding branch of the ONI, their operations were crucial in moving sensitive material and personnel, such as Derek. Derek didn't like having to be reminded that he was still technically one hell of a secret, being trained and grown into the super soldier he was. Of course that was until he finally bailed after his body rejected one of his major augmentations and sent his body into cardiac arrest.

He narrowly survived death by a mere auto-respirator which pumped his heart up until they could clear him of his heart condition. Afterwards the UCAF had him pulled from the project, he had been taken in by the UCAFs special operations and warfare branch, the Independent 22nd, he was operating for the ONI spec ops in order to protect the colonies, and ensure that the missions were completed.

He knew that ONI had him here as a back bencher because of his condition, but they had something else to add to his situation, something of crucial detail. Whatever it was, the ONI wanted him to know that what he was going to do was something of high value. The 22nd fleet was to leave Prodigal as soon as possible, for whatever reason so, he didn't like it.

But at least it saved his life and members of the 22nd, as the battle for Prodigal began 2 hours after the 22nd fleet departed from the colony.

XXXXX

As soon as he heard that the colony had fallen he was shocked, the UCAF had pulled the fleet from the engagement. They refused to go and aid the battle, as their mission was crucial, at least for the ONI to have him accompany the fleet to a location only designated as Sector 1138, for whatever reason it might have been it was enough to validate more than just the 22nd fleet.

Derek watched from his quarters as he checked on his armour and gear, it had been roughly 2 weeks since the events at prodigal and the fleet was almost nearing the outpost, the region that the fleet was currently in was near the edge of UCAF space and the verge. The outpost was supposedly just a remote outpost for further colonial development.

But Derek knew that it was far from just a backwater colony, it was a fully functional research facility, the only place where no one would go looking, or suspecting what would be happening on such a remote world. The location was far enough that the outpost was well concealed from the engagements with the now Covenant that the UCAF was fighting.

It didn't sit right that the UCAF didn't have the Spartans ready, but soon that'd change, once the fleet got to 1138 they'd take the fight to the covenant. Or so he hoped, there had been reports that the battles across the outer colonies had worsened through the week, but the Alliance News Network wouldn't report on the progress unless Section 1 and 2 allowed them to.

As for Section 3, the majority of SECIII was being moved between the inner and outer colonies, various emergency missions had been given to specialised members of the SEC branch. To which reminded him of the incident at the Black Mesa Research facility in the Arizona Strata about a week back, the contact with the facility had been severed. But whatever was going on there had to have been big.

The man responsible for the Arizona Operation had also been called up to join the fleet at 1138, the mission for the agent was about recovery and preservation of UCAF core data and intelligence for the UCAF SECVII. The reason for the agent was primarily recovery, but on the off side, Derek had taken a look into the history of this agent. Lt Vance Mason was one of the few highest ranking agents, because of his knowledge in the field of counter intelligence was of the highest, not to mention he worked as an independent for the ONI's highest command. ONI One was the only person who had been given full command of all independent agents and had been regulating their actions through the UCAF for over 50 years, it has of course been rather concerning that the UCAF hadn't inquired into the actions of ONI One, but they had no evidence to put forward against the mysterious director and had left her alone. At east so the ONI SECIII commanders state, but in recent years there had been growing rumours through the ranks of the SECIII and SECV command that the ONI were soon going to replace ONI One with a new head of command.

Derek was sure that the actions of the Independent Agents had something to do with ONI One and her relation to the increase in activity near all ONI operations. But Derek had no idea where to start, and in truth he couldn't determine if he should get involved, he was part of SECIII but only as an external entity, he would rather not get into the deep levels of the ONI command, as it already had its situation.

Derek watched as the fleet came into view of the outpost, from here on out this was unexplored territory. The alliance had a war to win, and there had to be no doubt, only hope and unity, strength and resilience. He smiled to himself; he was welcoming the thought of meeting the others again.

XXXXX

To be continued…

Preview: The Humble River…

Outpost 1138: Helios Research Base

Derek watched as the Prodigy began its final evacuation run, the last of the research staff and the remaining clones were being moved. Rey 0129 joined him as he got his suit rearmed; the bulky MVF-07 MKIV treaded next to him as they prepared for the final engagement, Derek felt the earth shake as the covenant moved their troops into position.

Hundreds of waves of grunts and elites prepared, their glowing armour a stark contrast to the dull ash ridden earth around them. Derek and the final Spartan Alphas got into position, Himitsuki the supreme commander of the Spartans Alpha replaced his fragmented MKIV armour, and it gleamed white as he stepped into the light.

"Good to see you Commander." Derek greeted.

"Likewise Derek, it's been far too long since Nova." Himitsuki replied.

Next to Himitsuki the other Spartan Alpha commanders lined up.  
>Karl-0221, Ben-0344, Camille-0209, Evan-0708, Tanya-0076, Aegis-0003 and Vance-0505, their new MJOLNIR Armour stood out in the darkened landscape, near them the 589 Spartan Alpha units armoured in their new suits prepared. Derek hadn't seen them since their training and augmentations on Nova Tristan.<p>

Now he could see how many remained of the original 750 recruits, he was proud to have been one of their numbers. In his heart and in his mind he knew that they all took him as a Spartan regardless if he did fall from their ranks, he was still one of them, no matter what had happened. He endured the pains that they all shared, ever since their youth. A Spartan is always a Spartan.

"Spartans hold fast… if the covenant wants a war, we shall give them war…" Himitsuki addressed the army of Spartans.

A chorus of acknowledgements was all that Himitsuki needed, it was time for war.

Derek pulled his AR-M15 and loaded another mag into place; he heard the click of the charging handle and took a breath. He then turned from his position and stepped towards the field, the thousands upon thousands of covenant eyes watching him and the Spartans ready to begin the slaughter that was to ensue.

The earth seemed to shake as the armies of covenant troops began to advance, the marines in the trenches overlooking the battlefield double checked and prepared to funnel the covenant into the killing grounds. MGs and Mortars along with entrenched batteries waited patiently for the oncoming covenant. This day would be remembered for the UCAF, the day that the Spartans rose, and where legends would be born.

"From here on out, we earn our stories." Derek said to the freezing wind.


	24. Chapter 24

CH24

XXXXX

The Humbling River…

XXXXX

31 years earlier…

UCAF Date: 2525/1/5

07:23 AM

UCAF Naval Operations Section: III

22nd Independent Colonial Operations Fleet/Prodigal

The 22nd Independent Forces were specifically an outstanding branch of the ONI, their operations were crucial in moving sensitive material and personnel, such as Derek. Derek didn't like having to be reminded that he was still technically one hell of a secret, being trained and grown into the super soldier he was. Of course that was until he finally bailed after his body rejected one of his major augmentations and sent his body into cardiac arrest.

He narrowly survived death by a mere auto-respirator which pumped his heart up until they could clear him of his heart condition. Afterwards the UCAF had him pulled from the project, he had been taken in by the UCAFs special operations and warfare branch, the Independent 22nd, he was operating for the ONI spec ops in order to protect the colonies, and ensure that there were no acts of insurgency in the colonies.

He knew that ONI had him here as a back bencher because of his condition, but they had something else to add to his situation, something of crucial detail. Whatever it was, the ONI wanted him to know that what he was going to do was something of high value. The 22nd fleet was to leave Prodigal as soon as possible, for whatever reason so, he didn't like it.

But at least it saved his life and members of the 22nd, as the battle for Prodigal erupted shortly after they left…

XXXXX

UCAF Date: 2525/1/24

09:23 AM

Derek woke to the sounds of his alarm, his head felt refreshed; his short sleep was punctuated by the feeling of exhaustion wearing off. He had been training since the day that they had left Prodigal, the colony which he was rather annoyed about leaving. The colony had been shortly attacked after he left and the 22nd had been ordered to continue on its primary mission despite the critical emergency of the people on Prodigal.

Whatever this mission was he knew that the ONI had no intentions of stalling it for anything or anyone, and that meant an alien invasion. He sighed, he knew that there were sacrifices to be made, but colony of Prodigal was one sacrifice made too easily for the ONI. He got up and stretched for a moment before suiting up, he had to get his gear into working order, the fleet was entering the fringe zones of the Nova Stratus region and he had to be prepared for anything.

Why the fleet had been ordered into the fringe zone is what made him curious as well as cautious, the fringe zone was never officially colonised or ever explored, but the official notification was what made it unbelievable, the area was likely controlled by the ONI and their own forces, the likely outcome was that there was something of incredible importance being held there.

As he got himself suited he exited his room, but upon exiting he heard the mass movement of personnel, he looked around to see hundreds of marines and personnel rushing out of their rooms to the primary conference and recreation rooms. He shouted to a marine.  
>"What's going on?"<p>

The marine paused and replied.  
>"UCAF HIGH COM has declared a state of colonial emergency all military forces and personnel are to be activated immediately, and emergency commands have gone out across all of UCAF space. And to top it off, Prodigal fell!" The marine shouted as he ran.<p>

Derek couldn't believe what he heard. The colony finally collapsed, which meant that the hostiles were pushing into UCAF space, he took to the corridor and followed the stream of personnel to the primary conference centre, he had a higher command access so he'd get in without problems. On the second level before the CIC he exited to the conference centre.

He looked to see many officers crowding around the holo-tank projectors as the UCAF High Council began to explain the crisis at hand. He didn't stick around to hear of the public announcement, he needed to hear this from command's own mouth, and he entered into the conference room where the highest members of command were sitting to hear of the war.

He stood at the rear to catch the final statement of the council.  
>"As of : 25251/20, 11:45 Anomia Standard Time, the colony of Prodigal fell, it is in my deepest sincerity to all of those whose families had been unable to depart before the destruction of the colony at the hands of a hostile alien force now declaring itself known as the Covenant. The UCAF High Command as of 6 AM had declared a state of war against this hostile new threat and has initiated all priority military command. Nova Stratus and its people are at war!"

There was a roar of applause at the high chairman of the UCAF council, the conference room was in a state of tension, many members of the crew were silent, but they knew what was happening. And some members of the crew looked disheartened, their families lost on Prodigal, there was still a very determined sense of purpose though.

And it was then a voice cut through. "And that concludes our emergency broadcast; you have heard the report people!" An officer, senior admiral of the fleet stepped forwards from his command seat all members saluted aptly.

"Our fleet has been prioritized for a special operation that is to take place in order to challenge the covenant and their force, our priority is now disclosed, and our briefing begins now, all personnel below the rank of lieutenant please depart, this is for the highest members and specialists of rank and file." He ordered.

The room emptied out, corporals and sergeants heading back to their posts, as for the remaining command force they took their positions, but there was still not enough room for all command personnel of the ship, this was meant for individual briefings and reports, not a whole command briefing.

"As you just heard, Prodigal has fallen, and that means that all UCAF ships are falling back to their primary defensive placements across Nova Stratus, we do not have the resources to retake Prodigal for another month and in that time we might lose more colonies. For us, this is now time critical, the primary mission into the Fringe is now on a deadline and if we cannot keep in time with that deadline we're all going to be paying for it." He stated clearly to the command.

No one spoke out, they all continued to listen.  
>"Alright, Damocles, begin primary command briefing."<p>

The AI Damocles appeared, his red and black pattern holo-projection carefully preparing the briefing, he brought out the first item he had in storage.  
>"The independent 22nd as you know aren't supposed to have direct missions into the UCAF military we're supposed to be an outstanding force for emergencies or the ONI, but there has been a critical dictation and we have now been directed by the ONI to aid an ONI research facility in the Fringe, the UCAF has been notified as well, and they're sending a force of ships to aid in the emergency evacuation of the outpost. But even then we don't have much time, as UCAF forces are redirected elsewhere to stop covenant attacks the likelihood that the research facility. This attack cannot be allowed to happen or the fall of the facility into the hands of the covenant, the facility holds TIER: ONE, information enough that the ONI has brought out another specialised force of their own."<p>

There was a dull murmur between all personnel this was unusual if the ONI was bringing out their own personal force aside from the Independents 22nd. The news of this unknown branch made Derek smile, he knew who was coming. The ONI was bringing 'them' out. The personnel settled as Damocles continued.  
>"This unknown force has been directed to the colony for primary defence and offense, they'll be taking command once we arrive. That is all that I can reveal as of now."<p>

Damocles dissipated and left the command discussing what they knew, there was an air of confusion and curiosity. Of course they hushed as the admiral readdressed them.  
>"Damocles brings up a very important factor, time, we need to deploy and return as soon as we can, from what the reports suggested the covenant has no issue with sacrificing its own troops, and if that means orbital bombardment we must be able to recall forces as soon as we can. As for how many personnel shall be deployed on the ground, it's only infantry and armour, support taking the rear in standard defensive deployment, and aerial assault troops reserved for defence against unforeseen variables."<p>

There was some apprehension to the thought of using ADST for this, considering that these unknown factors with this covenant force weren't tested.  
>"The outpost is located on a mineral world, terraforming fields were being used, but after 3 decades only the atmosphere is breathable, the planet is still heavily underdeveloped, which means a lot of the landscape is technically rock, unleavened ground. The primary facility is located in this empty valley approximately 200 meters buried under hardened carbon formations, there is a choke point about 400 meters inside the neck of the valley and it possesses plenty of room for a battle, one that will ultimately be our holding point."<p>

"So we don't expect to counter their advance?" One officer asked.

"Not likely we don't have the manpower or the resources to do so; we have to hold the covenant in this choke point till the outpost is fully evacuated for us to retreat and then scuttle the facility, this will probably be the largest battle committed by us in this early stage of the war, but it would make them damn sure we'd never back away without a fight." He replied.

Many were satisfied with that response, but others knew that it was a cliché that many officers tended to adapt once they served long enough. The fight was just a delaying tactic for whatever the UCAF had kept under wraps with the ONI, this facility was just one of thousands of thousands that the ONI had at ready.

"The first line of defence will be provided by the 23rd Expeditionary Battalion under the command of Colonel Shaun, and the elements of the 44th armoured regiment of Cali under the command of Commander Hardin. Next lines will consist of the 31st to the 49th regiments; they'll have artillery support from Fox 360mm 76th artillery regiment we'll have stationed near the rear…"

The briefing went quickly besides the deployment patterns and coordination of troops and resources, they had everything set up rather well, nothing was forgotten, all troops were required for the fight, the only thing that they had to remember was trying to evacuate the facility. The facility had no personnel assigned directly to it, which seemed to raise suspicions from the commanders; the end of the meeting had only Derek being ordered to the facility.

"What exactly am I needed for at the research centre for?" He asked.

"I haven't a clue soldier, but someone from ONI sure as hell wants you there, she had you assigned an individual shuttle when we arrived, she wanted to see you." The admiral replied perplexed at the reasons for Derek's reassignment.

Afterwards all questions being asked, the command teams dispersed to their forces, Derek headed down to his room, he intended to make sure he had all that he needed for this interesting reunion. But something didn't sit right with him; Haley wouldn't openly inform command about moving him unless it was something serious, or if this was urgent enough.

XXXXX

UCAF Date: 2525/1/24

10:34 AM

The drop out from slip-space was a rather quick one; all of the ships were on level three combat stations, the ships poured from their rifts and formed quickly in a packed formation. They headed over the planet, the ships splintered off into various battle groups to cover the area and provide eyes for incoming covenant ships.

The picket defence was built up rather quickly, they only needed to wait for the UCAF primary defence fleets to arrive in system to back them up and hope that the covenant don't show up ahead of schedule, this would be a lot harder to deal with the covenant pouring troops in from slip-space while the UCAF support fleets were still in transit.

Derek had boarded his shuttle, an ONI pelican; the heavily plated drop ship was made not for combat but for transporting incredibly heavy materials and personnel. Derek smiled at the thought; he was going to see 'them'. It felt like a lifetime since he had last seen them all, nearly 3 years since his failure, he had recovered, but the feeling of failure was never easy on any of them.

He watched as the world came ahead, the large M class planet, its surface bleak void of any green, aside from the occasional flash of the landing lights from the star-port. It didn't take long to get to the facility, the pelican floated above the complex, the large facility stood about 30 meters high, but the secret to the facility was that it stretched over 220 meters below, the carbon materials here was the perfect location for advanced materials development.

Which it made it suitable for Haley; she always required the materials to be at hand, she'd never allow for a remote facility without necessary equipment being close, it saved her the trouble of constantly requisitioning of ONI resources which she didn't trust. As the pelican came to land, he noted the large star-port already had a ship in dock, the UCAF 'Glaives of Fortitude', it was a UCAF Hellfire class destroyer, and it was a sure sight.

He stepped off of the shuttle onto the grey of the landing pad, he felt the solid ground beneath his feet, it was a welcoming feeling, and he hadn't been on solid ground for a while now. He didn't have much time to get adjusted until he heard someone call him.  
>"Enjoying the sights Derek?" A feminine voice inquired.<p>

Derek turned about and came face the one person who had helped him in his life. Dr Valerie Haley, his mother like figure, she had watched them all since youth, she trained them shaped them, she dictated their lives without regret.  
>"Ma'am it's good to see you again." He smiled at her softly.<p>

She walked over to him; he could see her complexion had softened a little with seeing him, her beautiful blonde hair still neat and short; she wore her lab uniform, her same old novelty glasses and that broach that he made for her. Many years earlier, the broach he made was from Cygnus Proxy Cluster, when they had their training mission on the beautiful forest world, he found a small pink amethyst nipper. His past life was a surveyor for his father; he learnt to live off of the land and had learnt one or two things about carving.

His short memory faded as Haley greeted him.  
>"It's been far too long. What have you done with my armour?" She asked tapping on his suit.<p>

He remembered that he was in his modified Helldiver armour, he had specifically had this made for him by Haley, but he made 'adjustments' when he needed to which left him in a rather peculiar looking suit, he knew that it was probably a bad idea to say exactly what he did.  
>"I had to improvise." He replied sheepishly.<p>

"I can see, well let's see if you can hold off anymore improvisations until we can get inside, there's something you have to see, the others are waiting of course." She said motioning to the door.

He followed behind her, they entered into the doorway and out into what looked like a station, they boarded a transit shuttle to the lower levels of the facility. Now Derek being raised in the alliance had seen plenty of amazing sights, but this was just as impressive, as the shuttle arrived at a large dive, they peeked over to see the depths of the research facility. It dived over 200 meters below, hundreds of trams moving left and right; there was a bustle of movement of personnel, pods and equipment that he couldn't name.

"Looks like you've been busy ma'am." He observed.

"Right, ONI has been pushing for this project to go ahead as fast as possible, of course I kept my word, we have the primary project completed, Alpha and all members of Alpha are prepared, and their last augmentation ended about 3 months ago. They were put through their paces with combined combat simulations of multiple scenarios and combat sims, but the most important ones were the combat records from Prodigal, they had input the new combat data and immediately ordered for an advancement of the program." She explained.

"That sounds serious." He stated.

"More or less serious, the Alpha Program has been completely prepared now, I hoped you'd get here in time for your own upgrade, I doubt it would do a universe of good for you against this new threat." She added.

They arrived at the test site; they disembarked their tram, walking onto an empty platform aside from the hologram monitor walking around. They travelled the distance to the entrance of the testing site. They entered through a large pair of iridium plated doors into a room filled with monitors and holo-tanks and terminals, it seemed as if they were running at their peak with monitoring the test site. The science teams were busy noting down any discrepancies with the Alpha units.

Derek and Haley stood at the observation deck above the site, there were 4 monitors scanning the whole area below, Derek looked at the screens watching the blurs of light exploding around the surface of the test site, he could see the shapes of humans in large armour. His enhanced eye sight and reception caught up with the mock battle.

There were 15 Alpha Spartans against over a thousand aliens that were being simulated, the battle was one sided to say the least, the covenant holograms attempted to flank the Spartans from both sides and crush them, but 5 Spartans against each flanking force was a horrible attack, the Spartans decimated them in short order, but there was only enemy troops no armour.

"Elena, bring up the variables to level 7." Haley ordered.

"Acknowledged doctor, advancing stages to level 7, prepare for incoming hostile enemy air support and vehicles." The AI in charge alerted over the coms.

The Spartans below understood and took to standby positions at the start point before they began, the first waves of enemy troops appeared with hovering bikes that Derek had seen over the reports, the Ghosts made their first attack, but they were dispatched in short order by the two snipers of the Alpha Spartans. The Spartans decided to apply a V pattern defence to hold the covenant advance.

The next wave of covenant troops who attacked soon found themselves in a rather bitter fight, the Spartan eliminated the waves in a smooth succession, the covenant broke again and this time they brought out armoured vehicles. Derek hadn't had the chance to see the reports on these ones, but he heard about fast attack artillery called Revenant hover tanks.

The vehicles made the Spartans splinter into a triple layer defence patter with the heavy weapons Spartans getting their hands on shoulder mounted 105mm recoilless rifles, the guns kicked back but hit their marks, the Revenants exploded in a flurry of plasma igniting, the vehicles hardened carapaces flew apart and landed in flaming piles near the covenant troops.

The covenant aliens began to advance once more, this time seemingly uneasy about how to approach, their higher ranking leaders pushing them ahead to attack, the haphazard lines reformed as they attacked once more. The Spartans adapted to the offensive and countered, this time focusing on the leadership.

While the Spartans in front dealt with the infantry, a sniper hiding on an elevated position covered the others, letting out sniper fire from the ridge. The covenant troops began scattering as their officers were picked off, the Spartans in front made short work of the survivors within seconds, sending them packing again.

But they still had the aircraft and close enemy support nearby; the Spartans seemed to devise a quick plan of attack to subdue the armour and air. One Spartan drew the nearest enemy flier towards him and as soon as it got close enough another Spartan hidden from view leapt from cover and jacked the enemy flier as it attempted to strafe.

Once in the vehicle, the Spartan pulled the hijacked flier around and began to fire on the enemy armour, the tanks were the easiest to pick out and shortly then finished off the close armour support vehicles. The battle was completed within a span of 8 minutes and 34.56 seconds; it was a damn impressive sight.

"Completion of performance test- Spartan team Onyx, please return to recovery loft and await simulation data recording." Elena announced.

The Spartans headed to a large pair of blast doors nearby, after entering, Haley motioned to Derek.  
>"We should get going, the others will be really happy to see you again."<p>

They proceeded into the lift and descended to the landing where the Spartans were busy adjusting any malfunctions or data on their suits. On arrival Derek found it rather strange, he knew all of them, the 480 Spartans that were present, he could tell apart all of them, since childhood, they've been with him, and now drummed out of the program and reactivated as an independent made him feel, oddly human.

He grasped at his chest, the feeling of the phantom wounds, the scars that he could never forget from the second stage augmentations, the ones that failed him were his bio-veins, the stretches of blood vessels required to keep him active in combat under immense pressure of war. The failure rate was low, but still he and only 3 had failed and he survived as a crippled.

This feeling he had of mortality of course never hampered his ability to fight, he continued without regard to his failure, he knew that he couldn't do anything to reverse the sheer scale of biological damage that had been inflicted to him. He strode alongside Haley as they reached a console that sat solely on a raised platform. Halsey announced.  
>"Spartans, my Spartans, initial briefing begins as of now."<p>

The hundreds of Spartan Alphas gathered at the stage, Haley began the immediate briefing.  
>"As you know, as of 10:00, the first reports of hostile scouts have arrived in system, they're currently gathering in the middle of the system preparing for their assault. As far as we can tell, the primary fleet was still arriving; some ships were delayed due to the scale of the front. Our primary naval support will be elements of the Independent Expeditionary Forces, and any UCAF vessel in range. We don't have much more time before we engage the covenant, and I do wish I had something more to say to you. But I shall say this. 'Stand strong, remain vigilant, and always remember what we fight for, neither pride, or glory, but as a species, a people, a culture, a civilisation, lives that count upon you and the people of the colonies. We will fight for them, and we must. Our duty is to humanity."<p>

There was silence from the Spartans, they knew this already, having served Haley for their lives, they had trained, lived, and died under her watch, and none of them regret ever becoming Spartans, none of them ever will. They did not just represent the strength of mankind; they represented the resilience, the perseverance and truly the greatest of all, sacrifice.

As they prepared for the arriving armies of the covenant to swarm unto the world likes insects attracted to pheromones of plants, the Spartans Alphas leadership met with Haley. Derek was present to witness the quick exchange between her and her chosen commanders. Derek identified all of them, Himitsuki, Karl-0221, Ben-0344, Camille-0209, Evan-0708, Tanya-0076, Aegis-0003 and Vance-0505; these were the faces of the 42 that had been chosen for command.

Derek was greeted by Himitsuki with him looking at him through his visor and remaining in absolute silence.  
>"You know, you still haven't changed Himitsuki." Derek stated.<p>

Himitsuki seemed to cock his head in a mock sense of suspicion.  
>"Well then, I don't have anything to worry about then do I?"<p>

He held out a hand to shake Himitsuki's, he accepted and they shook like old brothers.  
>"How has independent life worked out for you?" Himitsuki asked casually.<p>

"Almost well, there's still a lot to be desired, like soldiers who won't keep prodding at you about everything." He replied.

Himitsuki chuckled.  
>"Adjusting well to the civilian way of life?"<p>

"I wish, I don't say that I don't like being a civilian, but I do feel homesick." He smiled.

Haley interrupted.  
>"It's good to see you again Derek, but I'm sure that you'll need to get those upgrades fitted, there's a lot to be done before the covenant start their attack, and I must attend to some rather serious matters."<p>

The Spartans acknowledged Derek saluted his former commander and friend.  
>"I'll see you on the front."<p>

They went their ways, Haley spoke with the Spartan command team while Derek went over to the armour engineers, and the team that was assigned to him was on the level nearby. He marked out the location on his map; it took him directly through the ONI recovery database, the same database that held the various research data that was committed here.

He passed into the pristine sterile hallways of the research base, he did however notice something, as he passed through the sector of the base, a person in grey and black ONI fatigues appeared, he was strangely suspicious. It was his hunch starting up when trouble was near; ONI was no exception, but this man.

The person was a lieutenant, and one of the SEC: III branch, but how did he enter into the cortex bay which had a level 5 clearance? Derek watched him look around and head off; Derek knew that his suspicions of individuals tended to be right, he did have a history of challenging members of the Alpha during their training to poker, and a few interrogation methods, he's always been good at analysing people.

As soon as he was sure that the ONI operative was gone, Derek approached the door, the lock was still secured, he decided to test his skill. He pulled out his neural interface conduit and attached it to the side of the Nova-MKVI lock, it was a very sophisticated piece of technology and it was supposed to be nearly hack proof, at least until Haley granted all members of the Spartan program a specialized code breaker program that was laced into their neural cards.

It didn't take long, the codes sliced the lock and soon the door popped open, he entered into the lobby of the primary cortex. The chamber was protected by a massive set of reinforced iridium and titanium doors not to mention various force-fields. The room held a massive spherical shaped core, the quantum computer of the ONI, it was only one of possible millions, but this one was specialised for this location and region alone.

He wasn't too sure, but he needed to check something, he checked the last recorded entry into the database.  
>Recorded Entry- Last User- Lt James Aaron ******, UCAF Section: III- Retrieval and Recovery/  
>He checked on what was accessed…<br>/Data- Expunged/

This didn't make any sense, why the hell did the ONI decide to send a level III to do the job of a V here? The records of the ONI had to be separated unless there was a joint operation and if that was so, then why was all the data destroyed? Did Haley know of this? If not then there was a serious breach in security, or there was much more to this picture.

He decided to leave, but before he did, he scratched up some data on what data was missing.  
>UCAF- Operations: Mercury, Operation: Corona, Project: 26 Lazarus, Program: Trident, Project: Chimera, Project: Warden, Investigation: MAW/

These operations had almost nothing to do with each other, or did they? He was sure that he heard of Warden, that was the Warden System operation, but that region of space was sealed off wasn't it? There was supposedly a containment break in the region and a highly lethal virus got loose, there was no known cure so the populations in the Warden System were quarantined for 9 months. And then the UCAF ordered that no vessel was to ever enter the region until a proper cure could be found. But the regions had been in lockdown for over 30 years. So what the hell was going on there?

Derek left the cortex; he needed to speak to Haley once he rearmed. He arrived at the machine room, there a team of Adepts busily prepared the various suits in the room for moving or destruction, to them it was a sad sight to see such tech go to waste, but it was better than just giving the covenant the UCAF armour or tech.

Derek was hushed into a loading pod; the adepts didn't speak, well for being members of the tech division of the ONI this was understandable, they're usually never allowed to speak to anyone outside their division unless it was technical. Derek was suited up within the hour. The upgrades that he received were a large number of cybernetic and mechanical upgrades to the extent of his suit; the Titan-MKVII was an augmentation of the original helldiver suit that he was using for himself.

The techs added new plating, new shoulder pads, his shock caps to hold back high impacts, reinforced armoured gauntlets to resist energy impacts, and these would all be useful in the long run. At least that's what he hoped. As he reactivated his suit he departed for the level above, he needed to go and meet with Haley before she began to evacuate the research colony.

He reached the main lobby of the facility the main floor was open, and very crowded, the thousands of members of the research and development teams began their departure to the fleet in orbit. But there were various projects and programs that required a lot more time to move. The development of the new prototype MVF-A0 series mobile assault armour had yet to be launched.

He met with Haley in the midst of the crowd; she was busily checking on her various projects. She was the head researcher for the ONI and UCAF, maintaining the many projects. She noted the former Spartan and greeted him in the midst of the rush.  
>"Derek, is there something you need?" She asked finishing some paper work.<p>

"Dr, I think there's something you need to know." Derek urged.

Haley was a good psychiatrist as well as a liar, she knew when and where to concern herself if there ever was a problem with her Spartans or personnel. She asked someone else to deal with the issues for a while. She motioned for him to follow her and they both headed up to the nearby mag lifts, they arrived up at the office level, Haley had a private office on the research base, but she rarely used it. Derek knew purely because she never attended to her office back on Anomia and Carpentaria, not to mention the sheer amount of mess she left behind in her work space back in the labs and stations she worked at.

Haley opened up her private office, it was sterile, and empty largely, she never had much to add to the room anyway. She finally inquired.  
>"Derek, I know this is important…"<p>

"Ma'am, I noticed on arriving at the lower levels, there was a young ONI agent, not just any unit, but from Section III, and he's not been assigned to any known task force. He was down in the primary cortex, but for what I've been able to find, he had personally removed over a dozen reports and project data, research data and information on various sections." He explained.

"Do you know the name?" She asked cautiously.

"Aaron, but the name indicated a man named, James Aaron." He replied.

Haley's complexion was in surprise and shock, she quickly recovered and stated.  
>"But that's impossible, James Aaron, ONI recovery and retrieval was killed in the initial attack on Prodigal, he can't be alive."<p>

"Then why was he walking down on the lower levels?" Derek asked.

Haley was unsure, she was muttering to herself, and then Derek caught on, she muttered the word.  
>"…Retriever." She composed herself and warned him.<br>"Derek, I want you to keep an eye out for Aaron again. Please do this with the utmost caution, Aaron was part of the ONI SEC: III special operations in the colonies for various reasons, if he's here then there's something of incredible value to the ONI. But if he's here, that means that Alpha maybe under direct threat."

"From what?" Derek inquired with a concerned look.

"Just please, keep an eye out for anything, if you get back to your fleet after the battle, look for him, don't sit around, Aaron knows a lot more than just ONI. He's been in active service for a long time, and I should know." Haley paused and explained.  
>"Aaron recruited me himself before the war."<p>

Derek started to get the picture here, there was a lot more at play than just Aaron.  
>"If he recruited you, shouldn't he be over 50 by now?"<p>

"That's what I meant, Aaron should be nearing retirement, but if what you've said to me is accurate, then it's fair to say, Aaron is a Shield agent." She replied.

"A Shield agent?" He perplexed.

"The ONI security and control, they do damage control for the ONI when things start to get out of hand, the ONI had various factions working on individual projects all at once, even though some of those projects interlaced with others. The ONI had specialised agents to deal with any leaks of intelligence, and if its Aaron, he's here for something." She summarised.

He nodded.  
>"I'll keep an eye out for Aaron ma'am."<p>

But before he left she told him one last thing.  
>"Derek, stay safe."<p>

He nodded at her, and she gave him a sombre smile as he departed to head to the lower levels. He felt as if there had been additional weight added to his burden, he just hoped that he'd still have the ability to aid Haley. He got down to the lower deployment level of the base and grouped up with his force, the infantry were busy setting up with the Spartans, the various troops were prepared to move.

Their battle was coming; the first time the Spartans would get their chance to show the covenant why not to dare fight with the human race. There was an air of danger and an atmosphere that seemed to put the soldiers on edge, this was the first time that many would get their first chance to fight the covenant and for the Spartans this was going to be intense.

Derek checked his gear, all of what he needed was prepared, heavy M165-HMG was loaded and various guns sat around ready for use, he was greeted by the various members of the UCAF force and independent as they gathered around for the beginning of the defensive formation to deal with the covenant onslaught.

Derek greeted his old family as he strode by, he could see them nodding at him, he remembered when they all just met, kids in the auditorium of the grand 'Concord', the large station that held many of them while others were searched for by the ONI. They were familiar to him; of course they were occupied with the planned defence.

Derek soon found himself joining the Bulldog transports; they were to head to the front line defence, of course Himitsuki would be heading the defence, he was the best trained to command. Haley paid special attention to the Imperial Vindicator born warrior, his blood line had a history of warfare and it's passed on rather well for the sheer number of years since the last major war that the Vindicators had ever been involved with.

Himitsuki's armour was a brilliant white and grey pattern, the carapace stood out compared to all of the other MK-IVs his was a modification of a Vindicator's power armour (Hayabusa for those who've played Halo 3) and the combination of a helldiver's MKVII Avenger (StTheo's Zatoichi gallery/?offset=24#/d2rkk6t). Himitsuki himself stood was the ninth tallest member of the Alpha Spartans, being about 8'5ft, his armour made him seem around 9ft tall.

Himitsuki commanded a high degree of respect from the other Spartans and even those who ranked equal to him, he had been by far the most skilled leader, he did all he could to gain the trust of his fellow Spartans to make them perform at their best and he put himself with them to make this a team effort. He's led them through some earlier basic operations up until their final augmentations, now he was here, and it was a comforting sight for Derek.

The PA sounded.  
>"All primary transports to front line defence departs in 1 minute please ensure that all members of the defensive operations are present."<p>

The Spartans were the first to go, he followed shortly behind as they headed out into the rocky landscape that was to be their first major battle against the covenant. Derek observed the rocky landscape, much of it was rather dull but ominous, it was all ash covered ground, as far as the eye could see, and of course being a terraforming world it was likely to see life in the next 40 years, that was if the covenant were to be ever withdrawn from human space.

Derek grasped his heavy weapon, just like training, at least that was what he told himself. Derek had experienced battle in minor operations that the ONI had him run through out in the colonies for a while, but nothing seemed to compare to the scale of the battle he was to witness on this day. But something about what Haley and he spoke about in the base still edged him, Aaron, the one man that Haley knew, why was he so dangerous?

He knew that Aaron was involved with the ONI, but with what specifically? The programs all had something to do with the Spartan Alpha projects and something else that he couldn't put his finger on. As they reached the outcropping of the front the marines of the UCAF were busy constructing large defensive barricades and emplacements, it was sure that the marines were determined to give them hell. But where were the helldivers?

He looked around for the lethal specialists that were assigned to the fleet, but none were present, he had a feeling that they'd show up, probably not now, they liked to be dramatic with their entrances. As he disembarked he was greeted by a young marine.  
>"Sir, I've been told to escort you to the commander."<p>

"Himitsuki?" He asked.

"Yes sir, he'd like to assign you a position on the front." The marine replied.

He followed the marine to the command bunker; it was an iridium defensive dome with reinforced plating and shielding. Himitsuki was busy going over the possible difficulties at hand and the possibilities of the Spartans succeeding in the battle.  
>"Derek, before we engage, I needed to ask you, where exactly do you intend to engage the enemy?"<p>

[Options]

1, Engage on the front trenches

2, Middle defensive action

3, High ground defence overlooking battlefield

4, Rear-guard mow them down with the support and provide infantry support and artillery

[You can decide]

He had to make the choice and soon.

XXXXX

2560/3/9

Shepard felt the world come back into focus, his mind very clear as to what he had just learnt. He had his suspicions, but now this only confirmed it, Aaron that bastard, he covered his tracks well, but not well enough. There was something else, Derek had found it. Derek knew about it, Aaron, James Aaron, the man who died in Arizona, he wasn't dead just missing in action.

"We're going now." Shepard stated clearly there was a fire in his voice.

The team members watched as he stepped off of the neural interface chair, Shepard knew something that the others didn't. He had a score to settle. As they departed, Shepard had Derek's body sealed into the container again; he needed the former Spartan's body for evidence against the council and Saren.

But first came first, he needed to find the one man involved in all of this, and he knew now where to find him. As they prepared to depart Zaeed came up and asked.  
>"So what did the old bastard tell you?"<p>

Shepard looked at hesitantly.  
>"We've got another lead, and this time it's hot."<p>

"Let me guess, ONI?" Zaeed smirked.

Shepard shared the sentiment. "Exactly."

As the force of rogue marines departed with their bounty of knowledge, the Cerberus forces never realised that they were being observed. Not far away, lightly stealth armoured scouts reported in, their benefactor wasn't going to be happy that Shepard had found out.

XXXXX

Date: 2560/3/22

Tristan Anchor Cluster- Everest Prime- Capital: Joto Rev

The world of Everest Prime was a nice world, beautiful weather, beaches, cities, towns, and orbital elevators; the planet was a large scale forest world when the colonists first arrived, and after over 2400 years it was shaped into this world. For anyone this place was a very nice place to live, and that was sort of the idea when they retired the members of the UCAF military here.

Everest Prime is the primary training world for new officers of the UCAF, from the ONI to the UCAF, there was over a 100,000 new officers trained here a month. Of course the statistics on training were to go down by another 50,000 by the end of 2570; large scale military training was to be decreased as per agreement with the council.

Not many people were happy with the idea of demilitarization of the UCAF, the UCAF had been under prepared in its past and there was a lot of feeling of animosity held against the council, due to them not apologising for the disaster that happened to Shanxi and the damage to the UCAF worlds that the turians attacked. Of course there was some animosity for the covenant, but that was rather lessening with every new generation, there was a mutual agreement that it was an accident to let the prophets do what had been done and the war that had ensued.

There was a formal apology from the covenant at least, but the turians never apologised for the nuking of Shanxi. The UCAF had changed to accommodate the new races, only by so much; the UCAF had a major influx for about 4 months, various race flooded into the ISC and into the UCAF. For many colonists there was uproar to the flood of migrants into human space.

Of course this wasn't entirely regarded in the best of light, much criticism with the UCAF being racially aggressive with the influx of the actual alien migrants arriving from council space. Of course there was a lot of consensus that the reasons for the UCAFs strict migration legislation was purely that the mass immigrations of other species was unhealthy for the UCAF, sure it was for cultural introductions, but many people had reservations of heavy migrations into human space.

But at least for humanity it didn't seem to bother population of the Everest Prime. The news here was about as useful as the crap that the normal mass media pumped out on a regular basis. Ackerson sighed that it had come to this, his life's work as an agent of the ONI had been concluded and he was immediately retired from service, they purged his name and refitted him with a new name and set him up at the retirement program here.

He was of course under watch by the UCAF and for the rest of his life he was to be stuck here doing what he did, and that was a great deal of things, including espionage and such, but that was another story. He was just happy that they supplied him with a sufficient supply of Riethnol, from his homeworld.

He had been drinking rather more than he used to, but then again, he did deserve it didn't he? Being the soldier who ran intelligence runs for the UCAF during the war? And the infiltrator who investigated into the mysterious disappearance of ONI personnel and the Council? And the one who stopped the assassination of Ambassador Vol'ric.

He sat at his table with holo-news in his hands and went over all detailed reports on how things had progressed from the war, and it was going well, it could be much worse, but it was better than before. Debates by the UCAF High Council on the influx of migrants dominated most of the headlines as various colonies had a number of people arriving from council space.

He sighed; things didn't seem to change very much. He picked himself up and tried to walk in a straight line to his living room. His large penthouse apartment was rather agoraphobic, he hadn't been outside of a ship in years since the war began, and most of the places he'd been to were rather small cramped places at times, or he worried about being killed by snipers or hit men waiting around corners for him.

He coped with the changes after a while, but it still left him with a rather concerned feeling of being attacked by someone or something. As he sat down on his couch, he heard someone.  
>"Hello Ackerson. Or should I say Aaron?"<p>

He drew a hidden pistol and flipped off of the couch and fired.

XXXXX

(Oh boy here we go! Well I'll finish up Derek's arc by the next chapter it isn't much now, only one battle and the events of what Aaron and Ackerson knew, and then we finish up so about 2 or 3 chapters left for Shepard's final arc! Also don't forget to vote for Derek, he's going to need that option decided and soon.)

Also I wanted to come up with an interesting crossover, how does Halo/Generation Kill sound?

Helljumper, Helljumper, where have you been?

Feet first into hell and back again!

When I die please bury me deep!

Place an MA5 down by my feet!

Don't cry for me, don't shed no tear!

Just pack my box with PT gear!

Cause one early morning 'bout zero-five!

The ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky!

Don't you worry, don't come undone!

It's just my ghost on a PT run!

XXXXX


	25. Chapter 25

CH25

XXXXX

The Crossing…

XXXXX

Date: 2560/3/22

Tristan Anchor Cluster- Everest Prime- Capital: Joto Rev

Aaron fired the intruder by a foot, his shooting was definitely off, being dulled on alcohol and lack of practice did tend to do that to someone who'd been in service for the ONI for a long time. The intruder ran across to the other side of the room as he fired again, this time he sobered up on adrenaline and hit the person.

To his surprise he watched as the figure dissipated into thin air, he knew then that he was in trouble, before he could turn around he was smashed in the jaw by the armoured fist of a helldiver, he hit the wooden floor of his room and felt blood drip off his bloodied lips. He spat on the ground and then before he could recover he was lifted up by the armoured figure.

"Well, well, well… look how the mighty have fallen…" The deep filtered voice of the helldiver stated duly.

He could see the face of the helldiver, the triangular face scratched with the face of a skull, it was intimidating for those who don't understand about what the UCAF Special Forces were. Ackerson laughed, at least in Aaron's part of his mind.  
>"You damn took your time…" He grinned.<p>

The helldiver grabbed him by the throat and smashed him into the nearby holo-screen of his room, he coughed out and stated again.  
>"You didn't know and I didn't know, isn't that right? We were just pawns, just cards out for play."<p>

But the helldiver growled out.  
>"Like the death of my uncle? You full fucking knew that Adrian got too close."<p>

The tightening grip was making it hard for him to breath. He felt his lungs conserving oxygen, thank the UCAF for bio upgrades, he coughed out.  
>"Face… facts, you knew… about it before I-I could…"<p>

"What do you mean?" Daniel grilled.

He coughed out a response; Daniel lessened the grip on his neck and received the response.  
>"Aaron is dead, he died years ago."<p>

"You are Aaron, why the hell are you talking as if you don't know." He stated.

"Well that's what I'm trying to tell you, Aaron died in 2525, in the earliest days of the war, he was struck from records, and for me I can't recall any of his memories, only his stone dead personality." He replied.

"But how the hell did ONI remove his memories, only three organisations in the entire structure of the UCAF know how to do that and all of them haven't agreed with any joint operations with ONI, and they haven't intended to since the war." The helldiver perplexed.

"That's because they don't, the ONI have their own way of getting things cleared up, what the hell do you think Aaron was? He wasn't just an AI of a dead man, he was me cleared of any and all memories, that's why the UCAF gave him to the quarians, to monitor them unconsciously. He didn't know anything anymore, as for me; I'm just a clone, a worthless sack of meat that they made to substitute their last agent. You think they value me? Hell no, and none of them will ever need me again." He spat out in anger. "What the hell would you get out of me…Daniel?"

"I need answers." He replied.

"Answers? Ha what a fucking joke, you know as well as I do now, that there's no way I can answer you, those answers you're looking for don't exist in my head anymore, ONI removed them and shifted them over to a command cortex back at HIGH COM, there's no way either of us will get them now." Ackerson expressed.

"How about another way?" He asked.

"What?" Ackerson perplexed.

"If I could offer you a means to access old memories again, will you be willing to help us?" Daniel offered.

"You, have a means to access sealed memories? Ha, that's rich…" He stated sarcastically.

"Dammit Aaron snap the fuck out of your damned stupor and think what's your best chance? You've never wanted to be a hero or a champion of shit, yet you still get thrown in, what's the risk for you to take a personal chance?" Daniel asked.

Aaron did exactly as Daniel asked, even though he didn't want to his years of military training kicked in and with his ONI psych training he could tell that Daniel was right, what else would the great commander Shepard risk everything for? What could Daniel want, he wasn't a dishonest man, and he had his war and the commander was going to give him what he wanted…

"Fuck it all, fine." He shook his head.

"Good, also we need to get going, I'm sure ONI will have our heads soon enough." Daniel stated.

"I don't think that would be a safe assumption considering that ONI doesn't need me anymore, and I've said it before the neural card's been removed, they have no need for a person like me. And I do know that in the time we've been talking, another party has just joined." He stated in his normal tone.

"What?" Daniel stated in surprise.

"There's a third party not just you." He replied.

There was an explosion below that rocked the building. It was obvious that other party had just made their entrance, Daniel swore, his time had just run out, if what Aaron or Acker had just stated was right, then 'they' had just come. Daniel had heard the rumours of another organisation out in the galaxy just as dangerous as the ONI, but he never suspected that they'd try something on a UCAF world.

He grabbed Aaron and dragged him to a window while shouting orders.  
>"Daniel to Normandy, I've got the HVT, I need emergency extraction. We've got company on the ground." He shouted.<p>

"Acknowledged commander, I'll send around the Wasp, you're going to have to join us though, our friends have started a panic in the streets below and the UCAF PDF had just been alerted along with every marine unit in range, you've got 5 minutes." Reona replied over the coms.

"Wait… how do you intend to get out?" Aaron asked.

"How do you think?" Shepard pointed his pistol at the window.

"Wait I've gotten a fear of open spaces for crying out loud." Aaron protested.

"Well if it's not fair I don't fucking care." Shepard mockingly smiled as he blasted the window open.

The air blasted into the apartment and they soon found themselves looking into the evening skies, outside thousands of massive sky scrapers and vast expanding facilities across the city that made up Joto Rev, in the background the vast mountain ranges and the various forts and ancient landmarks strewn across the landscape.

"Damn I knew I shouldn't have chosen this fucking place." Aaron shouted.

The high pitched whine of plasma cutters came from the front door to the apartment, thankfully the light rumble of the incoming getaway vehicle approached, Aaron was about to sigh in relief that they were soon to escape until he saw what came around. A sleek black jet bike sharp nosed in the front triangular curves and shapes that were designed to funnel attacks away from the driver and passenger, but the back wasn't plated it had 6 engines and a ton of heavy looking components that drove the monster of a bike.

"That's a MKIII jet bike, the decommissioned series of Wasp Assault VTOL Units, these were decommissioned over 20 years ago, why the hell do you have one?" Aaron exclaimed.

"Because I'm commander fucking Shepard, now get the hell on it!" Shepard using his augmented strength picked up and tossed Aaron over to the bike nearly making him fly over the jet bike.

At that moment the doors exploded as the third party came to find them, Shepard drew his M5D pistol and his M7V Sumiyaka; he hoped that the translation of the gun was right because he spent 250 credits having it engraved in iridium on the side of it. The M5 kicked back as it fired the 1 ounce projectile, his M7V followed up sending a torrent of precision 1.5 grams of ionised copper.

The first one he caught was a black suited turian; it wasn't mistakeable from the flipping helmet or the fact that the damned turians were skinnier at the waist and limbs, he could figure that this turian had come along when the UCAF granted travel, the damned council can't even screen whoever the hell they allow into the UCAF.

The next people to come through was another turian followed up by a salarian in full tech armour, his M7V spray didn't penetrate well, but it wounded the salarian and forced him to take cover while his buddy tried to blind fire. Shepard knew that he was running out of time, he tossed and grenade and jumped out the window.

He landed on his jet bike and kicked in the engines, he felt Aaron shout something but he couldn't hear as they accelerated forwards into the reddening skies. The apartment behind them exploded in a vibrant clash of gold and green, the UCAFs own plasma grenades were slowly in production and thank the engineers who made them. The grenades did some serious damage, as archaic as they were; they were still a vast improvement in UCAF technology.

As the jet bike weaved around the bustling traffic of the night, Aaron watched unable to break from his acute fear of open spaces of the oncoming traffic, but what scared him more than just a ride through traffic in the open skies of Joto Rev was the fact that a stream of gunfire narrowly missed them.

Aaron could see non-human vehicles pursuing them; he predicted about 6 on the back of the transports, 2 non-marked shuttles pursuing them as well, he could tell that the ones in the shuttles were better armed than the ones sitting on the back of the transport rigs, their heavy weapons were pretty good indicators to the danger that they presented.

Daniel banked the bike downwards into a corkscrew, the winds whipped by rather more than Aaron would have liked, which was none at all. He felt the gees on his face pulling the flesh back as they dived through multiple layers of oncoming traffic, they narrowly dodged 3 other vehicles as they dived, as for their pursuers, 1 of their transport rigs smashed into the oncoming traffic and exploded.

The jet bike ploughed through traffic, Aaron was cussing about what the hell they were doing, Shepard couldn't really reply as to what he was shouting about considering that the winds whipping around them cut off anything he was saying. As they took a sharp turn they swung into a traffic tunnel.

There were cars below and shuttles moving above, this complex of traffic made it rather difficult for anything larger than a bike to move around, thankfully theirs was the size of a bike, as they entered, their pursuers were caught in the tight traffic lanes, trying anything in here would undoubtedly cause an accident.

As they passed into the express tunnel, Daniel went on his coms.  
>"Normandy we're nearing extraction point, pick us up at the Taos Solar Dome!"<p>

It was then that they heard a number of beeps and the sounds of crashing metal, as they approached the mess ahead; they found that somehow their tailer had found a short cut, and decided to play demolition derby with the large tanker that was supposed to be exiting. As the incoming vehicle smashed and splintered vehicles, Shepard turned the bike at maximum and flew them above the mess.

Then they came under fire once more, the time from a group stationed at an exit. These bastards were damned determined to kill them, and that was for sure. They twisted to avoid the spray of rounds and exited out of the express tunnel, back in the open air they found the Taos Dome, it was the largest sporting arena around and it was a monument to the city's sporting heritage.

When the sped towards the dome, Aaron noticed their pursuers had picked up the trail once more and were busy trying to catch up with them. Aaron asked over the hail of fire.  
>"Where the fuck is our pick up?"<p>

"She's right here." Shepard replied.

In moments a shimmer distorting light appeared and dispersed before revealing a fully armed corvette, it was a UCAF Blackguard, it was a new line of stealth warships designed for UCAF scouting and recon missions and more specifically designed to strike out against the slavers in the surrounding regions of the UCAF designated colonies.

The corvette opened up laying down a hail of rail gun fire and lasers, the pursuing vehicles were ripped to metal shreds in seconds and Shepard flew the bike towards the open maw of the ship's hangar. Aaron was blinded as they entered the well-lit interior of the grey and black ship. The inside hangar was amazing completely covered in fresh platinum plating and iridium, just as he had read in the reports, the Blackguard was made for some comforts such as better lighting as well which really did help without having to squint half the time.

But aside from creature comforts the ship was still a warship and an advanced one at that, the commander dropped them onto a platform roughly the size of a tank; it was on an extended arm that reached over the main floor. As they got off, Aaron noticed a welcoming committee coming from a large lift on one side of the level they had landed on.

He could spot a few members of those who fought with him at the start, including the cyborg named Aegis, Eric Cear, Mitchel Sanders and Lazoroski, they were all here, and he did notice a few other members of the UCAF Helldivers that Shepard served with, Carol, Mikael, Leon, and Captain Matthew King. He couldn't imagine why Shepard would gather all members of the UCAF who were known war heroes here.

"Aaron I'd like you to meet my crew, and my crew I'm sure you've all been acquainted with our old friend here." Shepard asked.

There was a murmur of acknowledgements, Reona called over the coms.  
>"Shepard, please hurry up and get the former lieutenant to the science lab as soon as possible, I'd like to begin the neural recognition process before we hook him up to the quantum diffusion drives."<p>

"Right up Reona, Aaron we've got little time, but I'm sure you'll be able to see plenty of people from here later, besides there's something we need to do before we get your memories back." Shepard explained to him as they headed to the lifts.

XXXXX

[The memory…]

Derek felt the wind knocked out of him as he landed into the melted snow behind the ramparts, the first line had already been penetrated and more of these covenant fuckers were dropping in all around him, the Spartans were the only ones holding the line now, and the covenant seemed to be slowing in reserves, but that didn't mean that the fight wasn't over yet.

He heard the sharp echo of further explosions as he tried to pick himself up, he only noticed that the melted snow wasn't just water, he fell into a ditch where a couple of poor bastards had been shredded by enemy plasma fire and had been blown to pieces. Their blood melted the snow that was around them.

It was then that he heard over the coms.  
>"The Titan rises, repeat all units prepare for emergency extraction, the Titan has arisen!"<p>

Derek sure as hell didn't like the sound of the name that they had given for whatever it was that they were going to unleash, but it wasn't hard to miss the streak in the sky. Derek pulled himself to his feet and watched as the large object landed a hundred meters away. It crashed into the snow and sent everything flying in all directions, the covenant nearby stopped to see what had arrived, unfortunately for them that would be the last thing that they'd ever see.

The object stepped forwards from the crash point and groaned as all its joints moved the immense frame to face the enemy, it had one eye a golden visor and had black plates with yellow marked on certain pieces of its armour. It was a titan alright, one that was about to tip the scale of the battle. But what Derek noticed on its armour was the No-256, on the other side of it spelt REY.

He could tell that this was the Rey Project now fully functional, he couldn't believe that Haley would bring them into this fight. But the suit responded and opened up, in one swing of its arm it activated a large high calibre barrel and pointed it at the covenant, the covenant were about to respond, but they never got the chance.

The barrels span faster than they could aim, and then in a deafening sound the 30mm mini-gun released death from afar. The rippling light shot forwards in a gold coloured stream and spewed death at the covenant troops, a number of them were just obliterated there leaving a fine mist of blood in their place.

Derek was impressed the Rey units had done some serious damage, even with just one of them, but he was still rather unnerved that the doctor would ever begin using the Rey units especially when the units were so young. Derek however didn't have much of a choice to continue the fight; he received a broad communications call.

"All units fall back, Echo and Prima have been ordered to fall back and provide covering fire for all units, the MVF will provide cover for our retreat, and all Spartans have been ordered to withstand the next wave!" A call from the command ship stated.

Derek was surprised; the UCAF had ordered a recall of the forces? He was sure that the battle was theirs, but now that he thought about it, the security of the base was compromised along with probably the information that it held, the covenant would surely send someone to come and crack the ONIs knowledge.

But if that meant an evacuation, then there was a high chance that the plan was to scuttle the facility with Rey… He decided to turn away from the sacrificial soldier, he would not be missed. As he turned his attention he heard the sounds of a flight of gunships heading to pick up the marines on the ground, he activated his beacon and called over a pelican.

He soon found himself in a gunship with a group of marines, and a couple of medics, he seated himself next to the marines.  
>"Pilot where's the 22nd fleet?"<p>

"The 22nd? The fleet's been scrapped, half of them have been scattered and the others have been gutted, there's nothing left of them." The pelican pilot replied over the intercom.

"Then where are we going?" Derek asked.

"The Levity, the ship's the only functioning frigate from the ONI that was left here, from what I've heard it's not supposed to be taking on evacuation duties, but the command made them go ahead with it before Admiral Howe kicked the shit out of their commander." The pilot cracked.

"That's good to know." He replied.

As they zipped through the field of debris now scattering the orbit of the planet, Derek hadn't noticed a single flash of light below on the surface of the world, it brightened for a moment before vanishing from sight. As the gunship flew towards the Levity the ships in the region began to disperse, the covenant vessels included.

The Pelican landed in the hangar bay of the Levity without much hassle, a few wounded were dragged off to the infirmary as they landed, and Derek was greeted by the sight of the recovering ONI personnel.  
>"All hands prepare for immediate slip-space transition, all personnel take positions."<p>

Derek watched as the personnel did as ordered, except the engineers, they had a ton of equipment to fix up, and there was still another pelican which had just landed that they had to tend to, and from that pelican 'he' strode out. Derek couldn't believe this, Aaron was here, and of all the available ships that were around for the evacuation it was the Levity that he had boarded.

ONI of course wasn't going to let a recovery agent be forgotten, but why he ended up here was still baffling to him, Derek wasn't very common to paranoia but he felt that there was something ominous about this sudden arrival of the agent, if Aaron was here then where was this ship headed to? Was it really heading towards UCAF space?

His answers would soon be answered, when they arrived at Warden…

XXXXX

Aaron stepped forwards into the science bay, he found it rather clean unlike most UCAF ships along with ONI vessels with years of use that he spent most of his time on for the wars, rarely did he find himself in such a place that he could define as clean. He found that there was a table with surgical tools and a chair with a neural interface infusion cable; he found that odd considering that this wasn't a medical operations room.

And of course then he figured it out once an Adept stepped from his table behind the chair.  
>"Ah, so you've arrived."<p>

Shepard introduced him to the doctor.  
>"This is Doctor Iren of the UCAF special medical and technical division, he was assigned initially to the UCAF Angel's Flight, but we managed to work him over to us."<p>

"You mean offer me the chance to perform one very risky operation that no normal man has attempted before?" Iren panned the question quaintly.

"Well yeah, that's the relative idea, but I wouldn't say that we didn't experiment beforehand." Shepard offered.

"Of course not, but those dummies didn't exactly fair too well when I tried, at least it got better after half a dozen units. But we're short on time. Agent Aaron, if you may, simply sit down on the surgical chair, I've got to ensure that all remaining memories are still in place and stable, and then we can begin." Iren stated as he put on some rather blue looking medical gloves.

"Is this going to hurt?" Aaron asked.

Shepard wasn't too keen on lying to the lieutenant, but he wasn't so sure that Aaron would like the idea of being subjugated to the intense treatment that he was about to receive, he tried to be honest.  
>"I'll tell you what, the surgery isn't going to take long, and it will reveal some memory fragments, critical ones, but that should be it."<p>

Aaron didn't like the sound of Shepard's words of reassurance. But he hadn't much choice in the matter. Iren locked the restraints into position over his limbs and began the process.  
>"Let's practice SCIENCE!"<p>

Iren hit the activation to the neural interface.

XXXXX

Derek had been as suspicious as to the involvement of the ONI vessel and Aaron, the crew had received orders that an outpost was in danger over at the Warden Systems, the outpost known as Forlorn Reach, it was a large scale research station into the virus that plagued the region, of course there had been little activity in its history since its creation over 50 years ago, it was still a bio-tech and medical research facility that came up with many advancements.

Now the question was, is the covenant going to take the facility before they get there or after? The agent of course was rather sketchy on the details provided as to what was about to happen. Aaron was seated across the table simply just telling them about the initial plan of the rescue and who'd be involved.

"We'll require one team to find the doctors, they're most likely inside the secure safe room on the station, it'll be located on the second level and in the nearest section to the core of the facility, please keep yourselves on guard we don't need contamination of personnel to any escaped pathogens or microbes, keep yourselves away from the primary labs and stay on guard for the mission." Aaron broke to catch a breath.  
>"The next team will be locating the primary ONI databanks of the facility it stores all crucial ONI data and UCAF star maps, the covenant cannot be allowed to take the intelligence, if the data falls into their hands the covenant will surely have an upper hand into the UCAFs defensive grid."<p>

"What about the actual storage section? The place holds dozens of test samples and piece of research into years of medical advances; we can't possibly abandon all of that information." One marine stated.

"Of course we can't, which is why I and one small fire team will enter into the depths to recover the data from the facility, that data is just as critical. But the problem with that is the area is heavily enclosed and sealed under enough defensive programs not even a mouse can crawl through." He stated.

Derek had a feeling that he'd be trying that security soon.  
>"I'll volunteer for the mission along with anyone else." He stated accepting the duty of escorting the lieutenant.<p>

Derek found that Aaron was starting at him rather intently, Aaron knew that there was something else that Derek knew, but he simply waited as 3 other marines offered their help to join the fight.  
>"Well then its settled Derek and 3 marines will be heading along with you to the primary storage and retrieve the data from the primary core."<p>

The group was dismissed from the briefing room, and Derek went off to load up his gear. Aaron vanished from view which did make Derek suspicious as to how intention. There had to be a connection to the actions to what Aaron was doing, the research base and the Warden station was two locations that the ONI had hidden and both worked in some part of each other, but they also contained critical data of the UCAF and other facilities.

So if there was a connection, what was Aaron going after specifically? That was the big question here, and why was the ONI so desperate to cover this information up? He needed to get to the source of this and that meant going along with the mission, at least until they reached their objective, if anything happened then he'd have to end Aaron then and there.

XXXXX

It didn't take long for the transition to Warden it was located on the border of the Verge and the colonies so it was a pretty short trip. But as they exited, the alarms began to blare, and it was time for the fun to begin. The UCAF marines bolted to their gunships and shuttles hoping to get out by the time the covenant began to rain death upon them.

Forlorn Reach was sitting in the shadow of the gas giant it orbited; of course there was a lot of glimmering lights of enemy vessels also in orbit. The Levity let loose a wave of missiles and rail battery fire before it released its compliment of fighters and drones. The gunships couldn't be released until they reached the minimal safe distance of the entrance to the hangars and then they'd enter.

Of course who'd leave the front door unguarded? There was a whole detachment of covenant troops and temporary emplacements waiting for the oncoming UCAF teams, the whole area looked about as hot as a firestorm; this was going to be a battle for the bold. As the marines loaded and prepped to leave, Derek shouldered a few extra pieces of armour. He felt that he was going to need the extra protection as well as additional pockets for ammo.

As he loaded himself with ammo, he felt the ship shake from impact, and heard the faint calls from the coms about enemy fire. As he finished the gunship began its dust off, the marines inside of the gunship consisted of 15 marines in full EVA gear and him and the lieutenant, the lieutenant was in EVA, but light engineering EVA suit.

It didn't seem appropriate for the ONI agent, but Derek had a feeling that the suit had a lot more features than just being a metal skin with plates and a battery pack. Gravity kicked in as they departed from the ship, and they suddenly felt very vulnerable to enemy fire. The ship rocked a few times as plasma streaked around them, but that didn't mean they should be concerned, only the landing was the problem, if they get decompression and blow to pieces, well they can't care, they're dead.

They approached the landing point, in which the pilot shouted over the coms.  
>"We're here boys, happy hunting."<p>

The marines made their war cry before they exited the gunship into the now hot LZ, hundreds of covenant troopers on all sides were busy firing at the gunships as they landed. The ones near Derek's pelican seemed to consist primarily of just regulars and a few minors; there was no presence of any high ranking covenant commanders.

Aaron stood behind him and noticed the difference of the covenant troop displacement.  
>"I guess we just arrived, their troops have no capable officers, probably here to guard the rear lines, or secure them from whatever's inside."<p>

"What do you mean by that?" Derek stated hefting out a HMG-75.

"Covenant protocols, we caught them talking about secure and containment of course we gave up trying to understand what they attempt to contain but we know that it's valuable to them." Aaron stated whipping out his M5D and fired off half a dozen shots before ducking on the side of the pelican.

Derek threw in his opinion of the situation.  
>"Or it might be something that they fear." He added.<p>

"It could be that as well." Aaron concurred.

Derek and the marines of their team quickly wiped the deck with the covenant troopers; they weren't much of a fight. But that didn't mean that they dropped their guard, there was still the distance between them and the storage was and where the data was located, this was not going to be an easy trip through the station.

As they exited into the station they found themselves taking a route that went through the lower cargo hold of the facility and then to the primary conduits running along the water and plasma piping, this would then give them access to the lower section of the labs where they'd navigate to the core and then extract the data before they exit.

Of course this sounded rather easy, but in truth it wasn't, the section of the conduits was hot, plasma and particle projection run through at incredible speeds and sometimes cause intense heat, of course the heating vents are down there as well, but the temperature can rise up to 90'C it was the last place you'd want to be crawling inside.

As they entered into the lower section of the facility they found that there was no sign of any covenant, aside from ONI personnel corpses and a few grunts and elites. The area seemed relatively empty. There was a faint chittering noise that they could hear from vents, but thought it was just some roaches or other pest that the internal cleaners hadn't managed to remove.

As they located the entrance into the lower holds they noticed that the lights were now on emergency lighting, it made their navigation a lot harder. As they began to crawl into the cargo space below, Aaron seemed to change his attitude as if he was suspecting something to pop out. Derek honestly doubted a covenant elite could fit inside the cargo crawl space.

As they went along the primary crawl space they noticed that sections had lost lighting, and the sounds of fighting above had dulled. And near silence was now present, aside from the marine's armour clanking slightly on the metal mesh they were crawling through. Then they heard something on their coms.

The team heading the search through the first labs called in to report.  
>"This is Bravo, we've reached an intersection where the covenant had been defending, we've secured our route through the labs, but we're having trouble with getting the doors open, the powers been cut, has anyone reported similar?" The sergeant of the squad called in.<p>

"This is Omicron, we've found something similar, power across this section to the secure hold's been severed, and it doesn't look like the personnel here did it through, the marks look like the elite in charge did it, why they did this is fucking weird, aside from that we're moving ahead. We'll be using thermal charges on the door and blow it open." Omicron reported.

And then Aaron reported in.  
>"This is Echo, we've made progress, lighting down here is at minimal and there does seem to be significant damage to the primary power conduits at least down where we're proceeding, advise heavy precaution to other teams to be on the lookout for anything unusual." Aaron warned.<p>

One marine Derek huffed.  
>"What the fuck does he mean by unusual? This whole fucking mission's a fucking twist of bullshit, what else could possibly be here that we can't just kill?"<p>

His fellow marines shared the sentiment but didn't voice them at Aaron. They just continued through the crawl space until they reached the primary plasma conduits and venting sections, then it became a rather tenuous run, they crawled through 7 junctions before receiving another report from the other teams.

"This is Omicron we've arrived at the secure location, the door to the primary holding vault is sealed, it's strange, they've burned a mark into it, a bloody print in the middle and something else, I can't read it, but whatever it says, it seems like a warning. The doors been blasted sealed, a lot of effort went into sealing this thing." The leader of Omicron stated.

"This is Bravo, we've been stopped by constant barricades, whoever made these were damned sure not to let anyone get in that's for sure." Bravo's leader stated.

"We're half way into the vent's we'll be reaching the next section soon." Aaron reported.

It was then that Omicron blasted the doors into the safe house that they started to report their findings.  
>"This is Omicron; we've managed to blast a hole into the main vault, but we've found a HVT, he's dead alright, probably dead for the past 9 hours, I'm not sure of what to make of it, it seemed like he put a bullet in his own head… 'Searching' this is Doctor Klein Baxter, ONI SEC: IV, he's been part of the biological and development department. That's it."<p>

"Is there any sight of other bodies?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah a few, they're in the coolant tanks, what the hell is the safe house doing next to the coolant tanks?" Omicron's leader asked.

"That doesn't concern you sergeant, you've got your orders, mark his name off your search list and get those bodies out of the water, if they're part of the science team here, then mark their names off." Aaron ordered.

There was a certain air of danger now in Aaron as if he was split into two halves, he calmed down and then proceeded. Meanwhile Omicron did as they were ordered before continuing their mission. They finally reached the near end of the trip when they heard Bravo call in.  
>"This is Bravo, under enemy fire, we've exited from the minimal security labs when the drones came online, they don't recognise UCAF armour or ONI by the looks of the bodies. What the fuck is going on here?" Bravo asked.<p>

"Those drones have a level 4 security program in case of hostile intrusion, it wasn't properly encoded with UCAF transponders so they may have a hostile approach to anyone in the vicinity." He replied.

"Well that's fucking great and all, how the fuck do you expect us to reach our objective with all these fuckers trying to smear us over the whole fucking corridor?" The marine asked.

"Improvise sergeant, they're not invincible." Aaron replied coldly.

They continued onwards with occasional sounds of profanity coming over their coms as Bravo fought their way to the next section. As they exited into a cooling tank that had been drained, they noticed something was wrong. The coolant was drained, as if there was a hole, and then they waded through the water till they found the source of the drainage, there was a large hole exactly in the tank that bled into the depths of the facility, the flood gates sealed the sections though and saved the remaining coolant, but this wasn't good.

"Our routes been severed, it was meant to cut through the coolant tanks to the other side and then we emerge inside of the secure sections between E-45 and F-10, if we exit now we'll be right in the containment sector, and that's the last place we need to be." Aaron stated to himself.

"So what? There's a few bugs, I'm sure using the suit's we'll filter the viruses out from us." A marine offered.

"You moron, that won't work on the things that the ONI was researching here, these things are much more dangerous and your filters wouldn't be able to stop what's up there!" Aaron exclaimed.

This was definitely something that Derek hadn't seen. Aaron wasn't acting himself now, and it seemed as if he was thinking to himself, or a part of him, it reminded him of the creation of the Nautilus Program, the creation of Aine and the Nautilus AI, Argo, there was something that was speaking to him.

But before Derek could interrogate the Lieutenant, the screams of something came over the coms.  
>"This is Omicron-n, there's something here, we've located the personnel, but… fucking –Oh- Shi… we- low on ammo, attempting to fall- out, repeat- the thing-g's are everywhere. They're coming out of-f… ARGH…" There was dead silence.<p>

"This is Bravo, we've lost com link with Omicron, and we are just inside the containment zone and approaching objective now. Should be break off from mission to assist?" Bravo's commander asked.

"Negative, complete objective, and then fall out, that data must be purged now, that's your order!" Aaron replied.

There was a definite issue here. Before Derek could stop one of the marines, a young corporal crabbed Aaron by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him as he demanded.  
>"What the fuck is going on you bastard?"<p>

Aaron strangled a reply.  
>"More than you need to know now put me down or you all die." He grunted.<p>

A fellow marine tapped his fellow's shoulder, the corporal was spitting venom at Aaron, but he complied. Aaron dropped to the water again and he was met by Derek.  
>"This virus isn't a virus is it?"<p>

Aaron looked at Derek for a moment and stared into each other's faces. Aaron admitted.  
>"No it isn't a normal virus, its something much more, but even we don't know what to categorise it as."<p>

"This is something much more than we can handle." Aaron stated openly.

"Then we'll have to test that won't we?" Derek punctuated with his HMG.

Aaron through a look of doubt at Derek, but did not voice his opinion on their situation. Aaron then planned to cut a portion of the circuit breakers into the next level above, this was their only way to reach the objective, and they'd have to traverse through the labs themselves and into the core storage facility.

As they got to the landing above they found themselves in an ever closing space as they reached the top. The soon got to the exit point, and found it led into a janitor's closet. It wasn't exactly the nicest places to be stuck in, but better there than out in the open. It was apparent that there was something going on outside, calls from Bravo began to filter through.

"We've got something, multiple targets, human, not registering normal transponder frequencies; all have reports of flat lines, what the fuck?" A marine shouted.

There was sporadic gunfire and shouts over the coms as the marines fought against whatever had found them. Bravo put out a call for help.  
>"This is Bravo, requesting support, multiple hostiles are closing on our position… oh shit what the fuck is that!?"<p>

Before there was any sort of additional chatter, the scream of something large pierced the com, and then there was just screams of fighting and panic as the marines of Bravo were brutally wiped out. The shouts sent shivers down their spines, it was horrendous, but it didn't seem to faze the lieutenant. He continued to work on the navigation of their squad through the facility.

They found themselves out in the corridors of the containment labs, and from what they could see it was too dark, all lighting had failed in this section. Thankfully life support was still functioning. They had to carefully navigate till they found the section of the containment that connected into the secure storage level.

As they worked their way there, they noted the number of decaying corpses around the area increasing, and it was starting to make them edgy. Derek's senses were going crazy, as if there was danger nearly present around every dark corner of his eye; he had reasons of course to be paranoid. The neural sensors in his head were telling him that there was an unknown amount of movement around him.

He could hear small amounts of chittering and a clutter of things and it seemed as if it was just loosened debris that might have fell, but no this was much more active. Malevolence was present and he could tell it was closing in around them. Their presence was like water on oil, and it wasn't going to last much longer.

It was then they came around the bend that they found themselves halting at the sight before them. The walls were lined with mucus not something he had ever seen, it looked alive, breathing, it was over the whole corridor ahead, and it seemed to be growing.  
>"What the fuck is this shit?" A marine asked as he flashed his light over the mucus.<p>

"Don't touch it, it isn't something you want on your body, this stuff is part of the virus that ONIs been trying to cure, it looks like it got loose." Aaron panned.

"Yeah, no fucking kidding." The marine replied condescendingly.

"We're nearing the airlock into the secure storage; keep your eyes open, the area's littered with active consoles and moving mainframes, there's a lot of sensitive equipment as well, and the coolant that powers it, one shot could flood the chamber with liquid nitrogen and kill us all." Aaron warned.

The marines took note and followed onwards, as they entered the airlock they found it untouched, it was strange that this was the only place that was left unscathed by the fighting, or it was just that whatever was around hadn't noticed it yet. As they entered the chamber the coms came to life again.  
>"This is Levity, we've received confirmation that the covenant are pulling out to the other side of the planet, and it looks like they're regrouping for another attack. Teams Bravo through to Omicron has been lost and Echo and Gamma are the only active teams left. Be advised that hostiles are planning another attack, your objectives must be reached by the time the covenant return or we're going to contingency plan: Void."<p>

"What the hell's Void?" One marine asked.

"Void's when we have a breach and the facility is lost, we need to scuttle the whole station, and that means anyone left behind is as good as dead." Aaron replied casually as he waited for the door to open.

"Okay, why do I feel like this is going to shit right away?" The Corporal of the squad asked.

The doors opened into a corridor of transparent metals, it was protected by insulated beams that emitted heating and lighting for the passage ahead. Of course this did nothing for the fact that it was starting to freeze their breaths, the temperature drop was noticeable, and it did nothing to lighten the mood.

As they strode forwards they could see the dozens of moving mainframes as they entered from their coolant tanks and surfaced to heat up before being dipped into the cold nitrogen again, the whole place was illuminated by faint blue lighting coming from the mainframes or the internal beam lighting.

As they continued on they entered into what they could see was the primary core containment, it was a suspended shield dome that had one walkway across and another airlock, but there was something not right with this, the shield dome seemed to encompass a pillar inside, Derek had excellent eye sight even in night, but his peripheral vision was being distorted by the field.

"Okay, now just the airlock and we should be done in short order." Aaron stated as he pulled out his Nova tool.

They got to the entry way to the walkway when they heard something…  
>"Get away! Stay back, this isn't-t yours!"<p>

They saw someone there, a man in white lab coat inside the dome; he was on the console of the pillar busy shouting over the coms.  
>"We're recovery squad Echo; we've been called in to retrieve all ONI assets and personnel for evacuation." Aaron stated professionally.<p>

"No! You don't understand, the ONI, the virus, **Flood!** It's all a lie, she told me!" The scientist frantically panned around the console.

"Who told you?" Aaron suddenly demanded.

"Stella-187, in the labs, she knew of it, she could see it, it was coming, and sh-she knew…" The man continued to scrabble at the controls.

"No, this is bad." Aaron muttered as he began to pull out his hacking gear.

"What the hell is this guy on about?" Derek asked.

"He knows about the Foundation, the secrets they hold are too dangerous, and even a person who knows what he's talking about knows that he can't do what he's doing right now." Aaron replied hastily as he pulled out a hacking node and began sawing away at the door lock.

"No you won't come in, it needs to be stopped!" The insane man yelled as he began to hit the console commands for the room.

The doors opened into the room and he shouted over the coms.  
>"The time has come, the end has begun! They will find this and they will know I have stopped it!"<p>

The one thing that Derek had never heard of was the sounds of what was coming, at least not like over the com lines, but this was directed and it was unified. A howl that shuddered the whole facility… A scream of a thousand tormented souls calling for fulfilment it was earth shaking, but he reacted accordingly.

"Team set up a fire spread anything that comes through those doorways fire on it immediately!" He shouted.

The marines obeyed and took positions, Aaron was still cutting through.  
>"The bastard, he's drawing the bastards in with sounds." He grunted as he continued to cut.<p>

"Madness, madness it's coming to here, the **Harvest! The Harvest has come, and it will reap what it sows! HAHAHA…**" The man screamed over the coms.

Derek couldn't understand what this man had seen, but whatever it was, it drove him insane alright. Aaron severed another node as he cut through the first lock, and then the wave came in. It was just a single being, a form of sickly green and yellow it looked mutilated, as if a human's head was attacked to some disfigured ragdoll, but it had a pair of red tendrils where part of the head had been and a maw that had a mouth twisted in the side.

"What the fuck?" The corporal yelled as he put a dozen rounds through the body.

Bodies soon began to pour out of the corridors into the chamber many were as similar to the first, mangled and mutilated forms, some had retained more human appearance while others seemed to be mutating at an alarming rate, Derek fired his HMG and blasted to pieces dozens at a time, but the more he dropped, the more they continued pouring into the chamber.

"Almost through." Aaron reported as he cut another lock.

It was then that one marine ran out of ammo, the PFC tried to grab his M6C but he was too slow to draw as an infected slammed its extended claw into his torso. The soldier had only moments before he was gutted out, and his fellow marine blasted the creature with a shotgun attachment.  
>"Shit, we're getting overwhelmed." The corporal shouted as he fired.<p>

"No fucking way…" The other marine replied as he fired off another clip.

The doors finally came apart as Aaron unlocked them, he shouted.  
>"Go!"<p>

They fell into the walkway to the other side, but they reached the second lock and this time they were now bottled inside a walkway that was hanging over a chasm of plasma and coolant, this was the last place anyone would want to be in a fight like this. Derek continued to pour out ammunition and drop another wave by himself, he was running low on ammo, and he was using his surplus now.

And then the smarter things came along, but by definition of smart, Derek noticed a start change in tactics, the beings had now gathered weapons and were using them against the squad. They carried plasma rifles and assault rifles, Derek's shields were being chipped away at an alarming rate. He had to keep up a whole wave until he ran dry and change his drums again, in which the others covered him as he did so.

Luck was running against them, as a new opponent appeared. A strange spider like being with what looked like a sack appeared and latched itself to the ground and unveiled a spindle of thorn like needles and began to fire at them. The impact were damn dangerous, the tips were chemical phosphorous and a mix of acid, it at away at their armour.

They dropped the thing, but when they did, another 3 more took its place and began to fire on them as well, Derek found this a pointless situation; they were running out of time and ammo. Derek slammed his second last drum mag into place when the last PFC was dropped by a needle through the neck, his shields finally gave out and it punctured his jugular.

"Fuck!" The remaining marine exclaimed as his team mate collapsed.

The doors finally gave way and Aaron led them in. Derek watched as the ONI agent drew his handgun and pointed it at the insane man who was now facing him.  
>"Some secrets are meant to be known." He stated.<p>

"And the truth is the reality that is always known." The man grinned madly.

Aaron put a bullet in his head before Derek could stop him.  
>"What the hell was that for?" Derek demanded.<p>

"He was compromised and dangerous." He replied as he shut the doors behind them.

The infected being slammed against the sealed doors to the room, after a few seconds of smashing themselves onto the doors, they proceeded to gather the corpses around the room. Aaron moved to get to the console, but not without the remaining marine demanding some answers.  
>"What the fuck is this all about, what the fuck was that and who the hell did you just shoot?"<p>

"The mission is as I stated it before, critical data, things that only the ONI is allowed to know, and that there is one of the things that cannot get its hands on the knowledge in the core and the man I just shot was too dangerous to let live. He'd have stabbed you in the eye if he had a screwdriver or a pen." Aaron replied as he got to work.

The marine wasn't happy with the response, but he kept his mouth shut and his eyes on the exits of the room. Derek was also keen o knowing how they were to get out of here.  
>"How are we expected to exit this place?"<p>

"Easy, this isn't just the core containment it's a lift as well, the whole thing was rigged to get going in the event of an emergency, the ONI however left a failsafe, the removal of the core would initiate a primary core meltdown, which means everything in range of the facility will go up with it." Aaron replied autonomously.

"How is that supposed to be a good thing?" The marine asked.

"It isn't, but that's our only option, the suspension fields will collapse when we start moving, so if anything outside wants to get on, it's going to be a free for all." Aaron replied as he finalised the retrieval.

"You've gotta be fucking with me." The marine swore as he checked his gun.

"No I'm not; we're getting picked up on level G-31 that's the shortest way out of here." He replied.

Aaron hit the commands and the lift began to ascend. It pushed through a gate above and exited into a long ascending tunnel, it was covered in coolant pipes and plasma conduits, and also the infected creatures.  
>"Here they come!" The marine shouted as he pulled his rifle up and began to fire.<p>

The things dropped in all around them, Derek had to side step a human one and slam it in the head to drop it, but a covenant one appeared; it fired a bolt and smacked Derek's shields out before he could gut the thing with his HMG. He felt the fight begin to intensify around them, Aaron had pulled free his own guns and was now letting loose fire across the place.

The marine that remained had almost depleted his ammo, running low, he drew out a combat knife and a pistol and began to slice his way through the infected. His knife work was amazing, but his stamina was running low, they'd been on edge since they landed and now they were being grilled out by hostiles from all sides.

As they continued to ascend, they found that their enemies grew tougher to fight, it was as if the beings had organised a tactic of wear and tear. Derek ran dry and followed suite with the marine, and began to melee his way out of this fight. The lift ascended gradually to the next level above, this time it brought out a surprise for them.

As they levelled out with the gate, a pair of hulking figures appeared, Derek couldn't believe what was there, a pair of massive creatures, each had one massive arm thicker than his suit plating. This made for one hell of an opponent. He didn't have flexibility in his suit if he was hit even once, that would be it for his armour.

The two hulking figures began their attack by lashing out at him and the corporal, they narrowly managed to avoid being struck by the massive arms, Derek got on to the top of the console and baited the creature in. He planned out his tactic, he knew that it was still too large to move around fast. It reached the console and attempted to hit him, one swing and Derek jumped onto the back of the creature.

He was sort of surprised that it could support both his weight and its own, but he didn't waste time, he latched a grenade onto the back of the creature and dropped off as it attempted to pull him off. The creature didn't have much time to get at Derek as it suddenly exploded, sending half of its body into the air and the rest splattered onto the ground.

The corporal was going at it as well, he managed to stick a grenade under the thing as he slid below its legs, it blew in its face and sent the thing stumbling for the marine to tackle it off the edge of the platform and into the tunnel below. He got back to Derek and stated.  
>"This can't go on man."<p>

Aaron then interjected.  
>"It won't we've arrived at our destination."<p>

The lift jarred to a halt in a cargo access, the metal mesh doors opened and they found themselves looking into a straight access chute to the nearby cargo bay for supply ships, it was their way out. Of course they couldn't forget the infected, the creatures hadn't given up, and they rushed out of the front access as Aaron sealed them.

Aaron called over his coms.  
>"This is Echo, we've completed task, and primary core has been recovered, facility auto-self-destruct has already been initiated, and please tell Councilman Preston that the gears are turning, I repeat, the gears are in motion."<p>

Derek didn't know what Aaron had said, but he knew of Preston, Preston was in charge of the UCAFs Western Segment in control of resources across the Seran Expanse, he had holdings on 5 expeditions out near there and a lot of money. Colonies were used for mineral mining and production of infusion engines were under his control, but also the strange amount of power he holds over military deployments as well as security.

There was something going on here, what was a member of the UCAFs mining guild, an incredibly powerful one, have anything to do with the UCAF? There was something wrong, very wrong, as they approached the final stretch, Derek reached a bend when he felt plasma hit him. The covenant strike force had finally arrived.

He felt some burns in his armour but he was still alive, his suit's protective layers however had been burnt out though. He sprinted alongside Aaron to take a route around the covenant. They were now just meters away from the docking bay, Aaron signalled by hitting his Nova tool. The marine corporal was right behind them as they arrived.

"This better be the last damned mission I take for you." The marine glared at Aaron.

"Don't worry I don't intend to take you along again." He retorted.

The gunship arrived just in time as well, they had 3 minutes left. They boarded the gunship and began their exit from the station as they heard the Levity call in.  
>"Lieutenant Aaron, Preston would like to meet with you as soon as you arrive, in person." The AI of Levity explained.<p>

The gunship travelled rapidly to the Levity and soon exited the danger zone, the ship was already on a exit path out of the system as the station began to fall apart. They all got to see the collapse of the station and the subsequent blast wipe out the covenant when they exited into slip-space. Derek felt relieved that the ordeal of the station was over.

When they landed inside the hangar they found it void of personnel, only 3 figures, a shrewd looking man in grey uniform and with UCAF rank and insignia and his heavily armoured praetorian marines. The man congratulated them.  
>"You've done well Aaron, do you have the neural card?"<p>

Aaron removed his interface and handed it over.  
>"The data's all on it, I made sure that there was no back up of the data, the Eta Installation is safe."<p>

"Good, then we won't be needing you anymore." He finished as he pocketed the card and pulled out a pistol.  
>"Good bye Lieutenant Aaron, I'll see you soon." He pulled the trigger.<p>

Aaron's head exploded and his body hit the ground with a wet smack, Derek and the marine were damned shocked, and before they knew it, 4 other guards arrived.  
>"Ah, my apologies, you have my thanks, but Aaron was the only one meant to return. I'm sorry to see such fine men lost, but the Foundation demands no witnesses."<p>

Derek was about to pull his knife and slam it through Preston's skull, but he didn't get a chance to, he felt two shots impact him from snipers on a catwalk above. He dropped as the marine was dropped by the guards. Preston's last words to him were.  
>"For Auld Lang Syne old warrior."<p>

XXXXX

2560/3/23

Aaron awoke, his head was spinning it felt as if he had been shot in the head repeatedly, actually that wasn't far from the truth, the ONI, Foundation, all of it, he had fragmented memories, but they revealed something, something clear, something dangerous.  
>"They're coming."<p>

"I heard of it, what is it by them?" Daniel asked as he checked Aaron.

"The Harvest, Reap what you sow… at Eta Halo."

XXXXXX

(That's it for now, the biggest chapter yet, and this is almost done now, only one or two and that's the end of Daniel Shepard's arc!)

I'm too tired to do a full authors note as it is like 2am here.


	26. Chapter 26

CH26

XXXXX

Into the abyss…

XXXXX

2560/3/23

Location: Cerberus Pinnacle Station: Normandy SR1

Aaron in his recovery state was getting training once more, he had to get to full health once more, considering what was about to come. Shepard's gamble had paid off, the knowledge that Aaron retained was enough to help them get an idea of where to go, but before they did they needed to get some help.

Other UCAF units had been gathering near Omega since Aaron was brought aboard, and now that they were armed with this new knowledge of the next location they knew where to go, Eta Halo, the seventh ring world near the edge of UCAF space and the unexplored regions, this location was deep supposedly in Terminus Space, which wasn't true considering only 1% of the known galaxy had been explored, Eta was located in a dense nebula within range of 4 gas giants, it was by definition the closest Halo to UCAF space.

This meant that this Halo presented a very real threat, if it was to go off it would cover half of UCAF and UNSC space. And wipe out a significant proportion of known life in the areas surrounding the Terminus Systems, meaning that whoever was planning to use this wanted a weakened enemy. Shepard wasn't planning to let this come to play, there was just one issue, they hadn't been able to locate the exact coordinates of Eta's position only the surrounding space near it.

Aaron's memories were still fragmented, which was hard for him to recall all given locations that he had been exposed to so he was lacking something's that would help them find Eta. Shepard had confidence that Aaron would be able to guess the location considering there was only 9 given clusters of nebula like the one he described.

But time wasn't on their side, whoever had accessed the memories of Derek had gained the knowledge of the Halo before they did, and from what Aaron could tell they had planted agents in the ONI to extract the knowledge before the ONI knew. That meant that there was a reaper agent in the ONI and possibly even more.

The UCAF had been alerted to the compromise and had assured Shepard that Admiral Hood and members of the UCAF's Enclave Spec Ops would deal with the ONI soon enough, he and the other members of the Cerberus Legions had their orders and that was to get to Halo and stop the Reapers and whatever else intended to take the ring.

Shepard was happy to hear that the UCAF had gone out of their way to cleanse the ONI out for illegal activities that possibly compromised the UCAF and UNSC. The purge was underway but he felt that this might not be enough to dislodge the ONI, there was another factor, The Foundation, a secret branch of the ONI it was founded to provide special units to help ONI achieve their goals, there was also a possibility that the Foundation had been compromised as well considering what happened to Aaron was done by a member of the Foundation it was a very likely thing.

Now the only problem was the coming battle for Halo, the UCAF could only spare the Independent UCAF recon and support fleets along with a few UCAF assault fleets, but that was a total of 144 ships and the Cerberus Legions had an additional 72 to add which put them at roughly 760,000 personnel with the Cerberus Legionaries having the highest ground forces present when they attacked.

Shepard wasn't going to command his men only the strike team, as much as he wanted to be with them fighting against the armies of reapers and their allies, the commander would be taking the fight to the command centre of the Halo to shut it down using his individual codes that were provided by the Forerunner Advents on Aiden's Light.

He was thankful that the Advent's even though not granted to directly to intervene had the ability to aid in some fashion they had allowed him to take a universal key that was used by the Forerunners to access critical controls of ships and stations. With this he could now access the Halo and shut it off and hopefully save them the trouble of having to locate the index.

But there was something that did worry him the council fleets had been alerted to the concentration of the UCAF and Cerberus on their borders and within the Terminus Systems which meant that they had technically breached the Treaty of Shanxi, the UCAF was forbidden to let their fleets to gather and accumulate larger than one strike force.

Of course there was also the fact that the council had an idea where the Halo was, which meant that someone within the council was also an agent of the reapers, they intended to make the council fight them for control of Forerunner tech, which was a rather petty attempt to challenge the UCAF, but it was a direct challenge and this meant that Shepard had little time to spare.

The UCAF had to get to Eta and shut the ring down and place it under quarantine protocol and stop the Reapers from gaining control of it, when they secure the facility they had to get it to UCAF space which wouldn't take too much effort, the ring's had an internal slip-space drive, as soon as it was secured they'd move it back to UCAF space and deny control to the Council.

Of course that wasn't going to be an easy feat, the council had been informed which meant that whoever had told them of the Halo knew more than just securing it was a priority, the index and possibly the resonance chambers were under threat, meaning that if any were compromised they'd be in serious trouble.

But there was plan B, there's always a plan B, if the Cerberus Legions can't take the ring back or is under threat of being overrun they would use a Infusion Nova Bomb, an inverted version of the Nova that would send the ring into a quantum rift and shred it into oblivion or just blow it up, it was the only way to ensure that it was safely disposed of.

Of course this wasn't the only plan, the flood was still a very real factor in this, Eta held the storage for many of the Warden System's versions of the flood and possibly even more advanced types making this a very dangerous situation that the flood might escape and start infecting the other races that would be busy fighting.

So Shepard took the liberty to call up some help. Three days ago he made contact with a member of the new League of Arbiters, over 9000 new arbiters were now present within the covenant, with the senior being the Grand Magus Arbiter Vadam. Rtas' was also a newly elected arbiter for the sanghelli it was now their order that would ensure that the covenant did go back to its old ways of conquest and genocide.

Vadam had been in contact with Shepard about the rumours of the Cerberus Legions preparing for war with the council and the reapers, Shepard trusted the arbiter as he had saved the UNSC and helped stabilise the covenant in trying for further war with the UCAF. He admitted that war was coming and that the reapers were a very real threat.

Vadam acted accordingly and sent a major force for the commander, Vadam was to be there himself and along with Rtas and 300 newly founded members of the order, they'd provide a massive backing in this fight. But their fleet was going to need to take time to prepare, as the council of the new covenant had been in reformation for over 10 years now it hadn't been easy for them to make faster decisions or decisive ones at that.

The covenant would join the a bit late, but they'd be there nonetheless, Vadam promised to bring out over 450 ships to the coming fight and that meant he intended to dedicate a force of over 15 million into this fight, which was pretty handy to have, and the covenant had a higher output of infantry and resources than the UCAF, but they were outmatched and out skilled by the UCAF veterans during the war, which was why the UCAF held them back so long.

The covenant had the respect of the UCAF and the UCAF respected the dedication of the covenant, they were damned ready to fight to the end. Shepard was busy organising the force commanders in the CIC of the Normandy, he was situated on a command chair overlooking the galaxy map in the middle of the room, of course he wasn't sure why the hell the UCAF would begin implementing such a redundant display system on a ship that already had a tactical display desk.

Of course this was one of the few standards that the council wanted to enact for future UCAF and human vessels. The UCAF corporations were busy debating whether or not to slap them in the face or just punch their corporate chairman. The UCAF standard of naval building was Spartan but it was meant to survive anything that came at them.

The Normandy was blocky but it was strong, the honeycomb structure of the ship made it resistant to heavy damage and even with particle weaponry that they encountered from the collectors it wasn't going to go down so easily. New ablative armour had been emplaced on the ship along with a new weapons, the UCAF had gotten a few new tricks from the covenant's own tech, including plasma torpedoes.

The Normandy was making herself well known for firepower in small packages, and Shepard was proud to have her as his own flagship, Anderson who helped prepare and train the crew of the Normandy was the captain of the ship, and was honoured to be. Anderson was currently just a captain, but a senior at that for his years of service to the UCAF during the war and also knowing more than anyone in the fleet about the tactics used by the council. The captain would surely prove himself capable.

Admiral Howe, Adams, and Hackett were in command of the rest of the fleet, along with a number of other personnel who had gone rogue with Shepard to fight the reapers off of the Halo and ensure that human space was safe and all life was saved from the dangerous menace, along with the damned council which had planned to utilise the halo for themselves.

Shepard felt that there was a lot more at play than just them, but he knew that he didn't have enough time to go through all of his enemies, there were plenty of them including the blue suns and the Shadow Broker. But the priority was the coming battle; Shepard went back to assigning the ground forces to certain locations of Eta.

He had to balance his men to defend the line against the onslaught of the reapers and the collectors, he assigned a strike force to each critical location of the Halo including the resonance chambers and then one force to secure the index which would be headed by his fellow officer, Matthew Bane, he trusted the newly promoted colonel to do his duty and carry out the mission with the best of his skill as Matthew always had.

Then there was the council force, he wasn't sure if the council was going to attack, but their intentions were obvious to take control once everyone else was dead or too weak to fight. That probably wasn't going to be easy for them as the UCAF and Covenant have the heaviest troops available not to mention resources so if they planned to take Eta they'd have trouble.

But then again, the council fleets were probably going to come in numbers so it would probably make up for the lack of heavy infantry concentration. And not to mention the nuclear warheads that they were bringing would also be a rather annoyance that the UCAF would rather avoid. Shepard had a feeling that the admirals would have to go at this coming battle with their gloves off and if it drew the UCAF into war with the council then so be it. It wasn't as if the council had done a damn thing to help the UCAF in the past or try and build proper bridges.

He took his eyes off of the task at hand and began to sift through his personal data pad, he checked his inbox for messages from the colonies, he knew that it had been a while since he had been in contact with Valerie, and he needed to know.

/Secure line-2168- ID: 324443- Haley Valerie- Daniel Shepard/

2560/3/19

Daniel, I've been meaning to tell you, I know you've been looking for answers, but when will you be back? Not only for me, but her, wouldn't she want to know her father? What will I ever tell her if you don't come back? That he was a man of integrity who sought answers and died looking for those answers? I know this must sound selfish, but knowing when to put us with you again, I'd truly wish to see her know of who her father was, or if he ever loved her.

When the time comes, will you be able to come back?

Love Valerie…

/End Message-/

He wrote back his own message, he knew he didn't have much time, the fleet was already preparing to depart for Omega soon, and he knew that a slip-space transmission wasn't as powerful out in the Terminus Systems and would take time to get back home. By the time the message reached her eyes, he knew that the battle for Eta would have already begun. He just hoped if anything did happen, she'd understand, he didn't want to miss out on their child's birth. But time was running against him, and a galaxy she could live in was better. But he did wonder himself, how many months had it been since he last saw Haley?

Before he could ponder in further thought his attention was drawn to a woman materialising. "Commander, the fleet's prepared for immediate departure." Normandy's AI Anya stated with a curt bow.

He nodded.  
>"Very well Anya, have Anderson hail all vessels to jump alongside us on my mark."<p>

She acknowledged and proceeded to link all vessels to the Normandy as they prepared for the FTL jump to Omega. Pinnacle station began to shift from view as the fleet gathered up around the Normandy's wake and prepared for the jump. Anderson approached the fore deck and held onto the rails as be prepared to call the fleet for the jump.

Shepard watched the map as hundreds of vessels prepared for his command.  
>"All vessels are synced."<p>

"Very jump in, 3 seconds… 3, 2, 1, jump!"

All vessels were pulled forwards as they headed into the slip-space, their trails wisping around them as they speared into the light of oblivion, it was a sure sight for all who saw such a thing in years, the UCAF hadn't many ships out like Cerberus's. The ships may have been fewer in number, but they had much more powerful ships, as well as a number of nimble vessels used by the Helldiver Forces.

The Helldivers were granted the permission to use other vessels as well as experimental ones, thus why the Cerberus Legions had such an impressive array of ships. The Normandy was similar in the sense that it was to be utilised for scouting and recon, as well as short skirmishes into deep enemy territory.

As slip-space flooded their visions they wait in anticipation for the coming assault.

XXXXX

2541/4/22

Joseph felt his MKIV plating crack as it impacted the bulkhead of the security vault, he knew that the pain would subside but it still hurt like hell. He didn't take long to pick himself up from the impact, but as he did a taunting voice cackled.  
><strong>"What's wrong? A little beat up?"<strong>

"Uri you fucking bastard, show yourself!" He shouted into the darkness that surrounded him.

"**I'll be happy to oblige."** The Chimera replied ominously.

A bright glow of light came from in front of Joseph as Uri unleashed a corrosive strike, the tendrils from Uri's mutated arm launched themselves at Joseph who side stepped and jumped from the attack and began a run at the other Chimera. But Uri hadn't let his guard slip; he retracted his tendrils and attempted to strike from behind.

The insane reflexes of the Chimera lashed out and Joseph who expected such a response jumped over the attack and landed on a wall where he catapulted upwards and attempted to crawl on the ceiling.  
><strong>"Not so fast spider boy."<strong>

Uri threw the tendrils upwards to smash Joseph off the ceiling, but he instead played right into Joseph's trap. The ceiling lighting wasn't busted, the Chimera had shut them off, and the power lines were still very active. Joseph had also planted a grenade bayonet to teach Uri a lesson on using his mutations.

As the tendrils slammed upwards the explosion and subsequent electrical surge shocked Uri, no pun intended, his arm began to spasm from the energy and he forced his Chimera part to sever the tendrils. Even doing so the Chimera was weakened by this enough that Joseph used it to his advantage, he closed the distance and brought his fist to bear on Uri's face.

Uri didn't have enough time to respond as Joseph's fist slammed into his jaw and sent him through the wall at the end of the corridor, of course that was unlikely to stop the Chimera he was much more resilient than that, but it gave Joseph an extra amount of time to get distance between him and Uri. He had far more pressing matters, Amanda was waiting for him, she had always been waiting since the day they were augmented and brought here. She knew what to do.

Joseph bolted through 4 security check points before he knew that Uri was trailing behind him with fury, the Chimera was determined to stop him at all costs, their goals were two very different things, and Uri's involved bringing the flood to creation, advancement through forced evolution, unlike what Joseph wanted.

He found himself inside he primary containment core, this was it, he found her, and he just had to keep his promise. The room was one large construct, a single stasis pod in the room with a ton of equipment varying from neural scanners and stabilisers had been left there for her to keep going to provide the support for the flood and the Chimera, all of it was from her.

Uri wanted to use her to his own advantage, but he knew it wouldn't work, if Joseph proved anything it was the fact that the other Chimera units would fight him for control of Amanda, and he would most likely be killed by the collective strength of all of them. But that didn't deter him from trying on a smaller scale.

It had been the same problem ever since their creation, the call of the flood was dangerous, and Uri was the most. Joseph wanted nothing more than to be part of himself, no longer this thing that he had become, but it was difficult for that to happen especially since his past would not be forgotten, everything to him was gone except this, and that's where he found dilemma, there was nothing to go back for.

As he entered the stasis chamber Uri finally caught up with him.  
><strong>"Let's go again brother!"<strong>

Joseph faced the Chimera, he felt the corruption of the flood flowing through his veins, it was time again, the infection was awakening inside him and was taking root, this time he wanted it to do so, and he needed it to do so. He was going to give Uri the fight he wanted.  
><strong>"You want me? COME AND TAKE ME!"<strong>

Joseph's eyes erupted in a greenish gold light, a phosphoric effect that made the darkened chamber glow, Uri smiled and did likewise allowing his corruption to twist his body further to allow him to fight Joseph. They both crouched and then in a moment they jumped at each other. They collided in a force of titanic proportions sending shudders across the facility.

The two locked each other in mid-air and then slammed into the metal grated floor below, Joseph recovered the fastest and jumped over Uri and grabbed his back spines and flung him over his head. Uri smashed through a wall on the other side of the room but recovered quickly and responded with throwing bone like spears out.

Joseph dodged the first 2 and was struck in the abdomen by the 3rd, he leapt back but was shortly slammed into the floor by Uri who menacingly held out an arm and raised it in preparation to decapitate Joseph. But Joseph had no intentions of dying yet, he knocked the hands of Uri away and then grabbed and tossed him overhead.

Uri was stunned for a moment and Joseph got back up and began to send blows at Uri's face, but the Chimera wasn't down or out yet, he used his tendrils and grabbed Joseph and tossed him through the medical equipment nearby. Joseph felt the crunch of his armour and the wall it was a painful feeling, sharp pains ringing through him.

He got back up and got angry.  
>"This has <strong>gone on<strong> long **ENOUGH!**"

He threw himself at Uri and tackled him to the ground but this time he used his own tendrils and began to pummel the Chimera, his arm soon twisted and changed into a lance to which he grabbed Uri by the head and twisted the lance through Uri's body and then slammed him into the wall nearby. Uri howled in pain, but he couldn't remove the lance.

Joseph stumbled away as the Chimera shouted and struggled to remove the lance that had him pinned to the wall. Joseph knew that time was running out, the break out was already being contained he knew that the ONI would soon send a recovery force to take him and the others away again. Amanda was due for a complete bio-recall.

He located the hatch switch and pulled it open, the doors to the chamber hissed as gasses escaped, the sounds of Amanda echoed through the chamber as she awoke, he could see her pale form, like the first time they met, but the problem was that she couldn't be physically changed, she was psychically infused with the flood her control over it was vastly superior to any of the Chimera's.

But her personality is what drove Joseph, her love for him.  
>"Amanda, how long it's been."<p>

She couldn't move, but her mind could speak through to him.  
>"I know Joseph I've been waiting here, you kept your promise, but now the time has come, here we will part ways and you and I will be separated once more."<p>

"I know, the ONI is coming for us, just like they always do." He replied sombrely.

"Don't fret, we'll meet again someday, we always do, and Uri as well, we'll all meet again, but for now just be happy we have this last moment's together." She finished as the doors to the room opened.

The emergency doors revealed a dozen shock troopers with impulse rifles used to incapacitate the Chimera's, at the head of their group a man in grey and black uniform.  
>"Aaron, it's been far too long." Joseph turned and stated.<p>

"Nothing personal Joseph, but you know the ONI doesn't want this anymore than you do, you have an obligation." Aaron stated as he pulled out his M5C and loaded a pulse mag.

"This will never end Aaron I promise you this, this isn't the end." Joseph spat.

"I know." The ONI agent fired a shot at him.

The world vanished in a blinding light and he hit the ground hard.

XXXXX

Slip-space En-route Eta Halo

2560/3/24

Joseph felt the world come back to him; he felt the blood rush through his twisted body, he looked around for the signs of ONI, but found nothing, he was back in his private ship out here in the edges of the Nova Stratus region, near the Coalition sector, he had been trailing the memories of the flood out here in the depths of space.

He had been lost for so long in his own thoughts that he had almost forgotten his own name, the feelings of pain and loss still hurt, his body was nearly destroyed on Noveria during the glassing, but Amanda did something, and then before he knew it he was somewhere else in the galaxy, and found himself on a UCAF backwater world.

He used his remaining strength going into hiding and then looking for answers, or more specifically looking for questions that had to be answered. Amanda had vanished but the trail she left was potent it was telling him something important something that he and Uri only knew there was a place they had to go to.

He sat up from his makeshift bed inside the cargo bay of the jury rigged UCAF Long Lance Bomber, he found himself searching through his cases of whisky, something to dull the morning pains, his physical health had remained the same since his time with some junk dealers on the world of Coris, a scrap world.

He used parts of his armour to fix up the ship he now owned, the slip-space drive aboard wasn't that great though, it was fast enough to get him to his target destination, but it was slower than half the things in the UCAFs military, it would take an extra day to reach a destination, but fast enough to oust a council FTL drive any time of the year.

But still that didn't mean that he himself was any better, his body was scarred all over, suffering all the burn wounds and injuries in the aftermath of his escape. His narrow survival had left him with a very heavy reminder of things to come, the battles were to be costly and he was to fight the coming storm with everything he had.

But that didn't change one fact, his body had mutated, his back now sported a ridge of spines and bone structure turning crystal hard, he knew that his malignant form had become to advance and evolve in him; it was a matter of time now. He'd become like Uri, but his mind would still be stable, he only feared what had become of the former Spartan.

As he drank his whisky he felt that the tides were turning, he would soon be back in action heading to war, towards all that was good and all that was ugly. War was coming again.

XXXXX

Date: 2560/3/24

Location: Terminus Systems- Omega

It didn't take them very long, only half a day to reach the other side of the galaxy, they arrived at Omega and Shepard was surely damn impressed with what he was seeing now. From the Normandy he could see the outline of the station against the hard glare of red coming from a nearby red dwarf. The station had changed in short time, with various reconstructions thanks to the UCAF; Omega was vastly expanded across, enough to house over 3.2 billion thanks to the covenant engineers who worked on planetoids.

Omega was large enough to house a defence fleet as well, he could see a number of vessels marked out with symbols of Omega printed on their hulls, also noted was the sheer number of mercenary forces also present, ever since Aria was granted total control of Omega there had been a sharp increase in getting people moving.

Aria held control over a significant portion of the mercenary guilds in the regions and many who wanted a place on Omega had to contribute or get off, and they all knew that Aria held all the cards especially with the turian Blue Suns and the Eclipse, she had a private military about 3 times their size maybe not as many skilled, but still plenty to defend Omega itself against attacks.

There was also a large increase in the power output of the station, the UCAF had agreed that if Aria gave the UCAF a helping hand when she could and pass on the administration over to her daughter that they agree to help supply a nearly infinite energy source to keep Omega powered till the end of time.

Aria agreed and the UCAF gave her a fusion drive with the power of a small star to boot, of course the only people who knew of the exchange were Aria and her patriarch who agreed that to keep this absolutely quiet from the other factions. There was also a particle dispersion field included to defend against the chance that reapers ever return getting into Omega would be a much greater task.

The UCAF also helped improve the organisation of the internal city as difficult as it was, the station looked a lot better now, still having a rather dismal colouration of course, but dismal mildly. Aria had been doing damn well as the head of Omega and as the first actual leader of Omega in a very long time.

As the Cerberus fleet came into range they were hailed.  
>"Ah looks like you arrived just in time Shepard, flashy as always?" The figure of Aria asked as she materialised.<p>

"You know it Aria, never late for a dinner date." Daniel replied.

"Good because it looks a lot more than just a dinner date is waiting for you and your boys with the council getting stirred up on the borders. But aside from the air of friendliness, we need to speak as soon as you get aboard." Aria said a little agitated.

He knew how to read Aria, and if she was even showing a mild attitude of uneasiness then there was a problem and one that would need dealing with as soon as he got there.  
>"Very well, I'll be there in 10 minutes I'll link the fleet first."<p>

Aria nodded and dissipated. Shepard called up his team.  
>"Zaeed, Reona, and Sargent Eric meet me at the hangar."<p>

The commander proceeded to the hangar bay to link up with his team, it didn't take long before they all gathered, Anya had her orders to take the Cerberus fleet and link them up while Shepard dealt with whatever Aria had on her plate. Of course Zaeed was in his usual air of excitement.  
>"I smell a fight, it's a good fight, and it seems like Aria's got a lot more going on that she's letting on."<p>

"Which is why I need you Zaeed, keep our flank covered, as for Reona, keep the lines clear for us if there's trouble, and Eric, I know you're a good shooter, heck a damn good thief as well, and damn handy with shotguns, keep our rear covered but let loose when we find this problem." Shepard stated to each member.

"Roger that sir." Eric replied hefting his CQCWS- SAG12.

Shepard had his modified M5Ds, DMR-.45, M7E, and a few grenades, also a couple of combat knives; he was armed as usual along with whatever his suit had attached, and his normal Helldiver Raptor Visor. He looked as lethal as ever. As for his team mates, they had gotten their gear in order, with Zaeed the next heavily armed, having a USAS-12G drum mag, also combat knives and his personal favourite kukri 'double-edge', his other weapons were M7Es strapped to his hips and concussion grenades. Reona had not much aside from a SMG and her tech gear and medical attachments, her hacking tools and a scanner was all she needed.

They got aboard the shuttle in short order and headed towards Omega, they saw the damn dull sight of the centre after a few minutes of entering, and there wasn't much to like about Omega, aside from the amount of chaos it took to get things at least functional. Shepard noted to only come here when he needed to purely because the damn place smelled so bad, some parts were as rancid as stepping into the guts of a flood tank and other times it was as good as stepping on a skunk.

There was nothing that great about Omega, but it had at least been improved. As they arrived at the centre function of the whole station which was the hanging cylindrical structure with domes above and below that coned off, the neon lights flooded through showing the sign of Aria's favourite home, Afterlife.

Landing on the front parking space they got out of the shuttle to face the streets of Omega, and the slightly less rancid smell. They strode towards the neon lit building, the flames were a nice touch, including that it now had a blue flame at the bottom to add to the red contrast above, the sign was still a really bright, heck most people wouldn't bother reading the sign knowing that it'd end up getting them blind.

Upon strolling up the line towards the stairs, the guards spotted them and gave Shepard a wide girth, they knew of how Shepard had destroyed a number of the reapers in their previous engagement. As they got inside they found that there were a number of new Batarians inside the place, they looked at Shepard as if he was death itself and a number of others stumbled trying to get out of the way of the death masked human.

Turians however hated Zaeed, the sheer malice that was being directed at the brutal helldiver was obvious many turian patrons were eyeing the flag that Zaeed had strapped to his shoulder and had been scared and torn and bloodied for Zaeed's use. He smirked under his helmet at the hate and eyed them back.

As they got into the interior they found the noise damn loud, the neon lights and such was a real headache for Shepard he never liked clubs and he doubted that there was anywhere there had much neon and noise as Omega, and most of council space. The ridiculous amounts of lighting and noise and so few good places that just had regular songs and such without the ridiculous amount of lighting were becoming a rather endangered sight in the UCAF.

Ever since opening borders there had been so many new night clubs that people just think that it's ridiculous and there's no actual music just noise constant upbeat noise which goes on an endless cycle. Shepard felt as if he was becoming old, but that might just be his opinion of music now.

As they navigated their way upstairs to the third level where Aria was located Shepard noticed the form of 2 turians with rather bloodied faces and one Batarian who he identified as a member of the blue suns who had his arm shot through and his armour cooked. Aria was sitting on the other side of the room looking at them without a care.

She welcomed him.  
>"Shepard good to see you back face to face, it's been far too long."<p>

"Agreed, however I don't think sitting in this place longer than I need to as being anti-social." He replied.

"Understandable considering everything, but aside from the normal Omega charm, I've got a problem." She motioned for him to sit nearby.

"What's the problem?" He asked as he sat on the cushion sofa.

"The council has been attempting to intervene here, ever since the movement of your fleet there's been a sharp increase in covert operations including seeding their own personal spies into Omega to monitor the flow of traffic and resources." She motioned to the three beaten men.

"These bastards thought they could cross me and stroll out the front door, of course it didn't take long to get them to sing, it seems that the council has been planning this for a while, ever since the attack on Omega they had seeded additional members into the guilds including the mercenaries, they hoped to topple me with a sharp public and political blow and it's going to come soon." She stated rather aptly as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"How would they pull off a full overthrow?" Shepard asked.

"Simple, make me look incompetent and attempt to stir trouble with the guilds and break it into a civil war and have me take the blame for not intervening fast enough, then force change with members of the asari and turian members in the guilds that have sided with them and get at least one of them into power." She replied nearly seething at the mention of the council.

"Looks like they're really pulling out all the stops for this…" Shepard added.

"Yes, and they can't do this first without eliminating the members of the Omega council and my primary assets and aides." Arai explained.

"You have a council?" He asked.

"More like an advisory which monitors the guilds and a lot of backlogging, they do a lot of the holo work around here, but losing even them can set me back badly, but not as much as their primary targets." She responded.

"Who are the primary targets?" Daniel inquired.

"My primary advisor, I kept him around as a trophy from when I first took Omega and he's the one who's been holding public meetings rather often between him and members of the public a lot of people like his stories and they all think he's done well as a public person amazingly for a male krogan." Aria grinned at the irony.

"I can see, so you think he's the most at threat?" Shepard asked.

"Probably, he's the one who's held my image well next to him, and with my prize out of their way they'd make headway with the guilds and possibly half the lower district leadership, if that happens Omega will be plunged into utter chaos, which is perfect for them to begin a overthrow." She replied dangerously.

"I'll bite; I helped you in the past, and let's just say that this is our repayment for getting the council on your nerves." Shepard offered.

Aria smiled at him.  
>"That's what I like about you, you don't care about the dangers involved, you don't do it or you do." She handed him a data pad.<br>"Patriarch is currently located in Underside Plaza, he's got a few guards, but with you to keep him safe, it'll be more than enough."

Shepard took the data pad and took his leave, he got the team back and they headed downstairs.  
>"So, this going to be worth the time?" Reona asked.<p>

"Needs to be, Aria's been backing us for a while, not to mention the council being on Omega is the last thing we need." Eric voiced.

"It's true, the last thing Omega needs is another council especially out here, they'd be better off with Aria in charge." Shepard stated.

They took the shuttle down to Underside where they found a rather quaint district of heavy urbanisation it was a sure sight, this didn't look like it was part of Omega at all and yet it was, they navigated their way to the plaza where they could see a number of people going about, the library nearby and a number of shops and stalls.

But what stood out was the single building with the sign on the top with the patriarch on it; it was a seminar with members of the local districts meeting with the patriarch. Shepard and the others headed in and were greeted by the sight of a small audience, the guards waved them in when they saw the data pad.

The old krogan was going on about some of his past victories and successes of his career as former leader of Omega, the group nodded at some of his thoughts on the reality of the council's control in the Terminus Systems and a thought on what they should do about the risks of what might come. But he did change through various subjects and his own war stories.

Shepard interrupted.  
>"Patriarch, Aria sent us."<p>

"A human, UCAF, I've seen your kind, Helldiver, and no less Shepard himself, I'd never imagine that she'd send you along to watch me for a day." He mumbled.

"I'm not here for that, we've received that a possible assassination of you might come from members of council agents and other mercenary guilds that want you out of the way to get to Aria." He replied.

The old krogan grunted in utter surprise and laughed.  
>"Ha, that's the first time I've ever felt the old war bones kicking back in, a real danger, this time not from a damn bottle of rycnol."<p>

"So you want to stay or get out of here?" Zaeed asked bluntly.

"What and miss out on the chance to finally get killed? Never, I've been waiting for someone to make a damn move longer than I could possibly think!" He laughed boisterously.

"You intend to face them alone?" Shepard asked.

"How else? I can't have these guards fight in my place, they're not blooded in proper fights they're here for keeping their pockets filled and their booze flowing, as for the rest of the guards they're here only for members of the public districts they'll probably be tasked with guarding the escape routes for them." The krogan motioned with his hand.

Zaeed then asked. "Then what about if we fight for you? I recall a lot of the krogan had clans with a group that holds close to them as family, a krantt."

"Krantt? My… that's been damn long time since even a krantt was ever offered in my place, how would I know to trust you aren't just here to simply take my reputation?" He asked.

"Why would the man who brought down the reapers here and slaughtered his way through the Traverse want to do with an already galactic reputation that precedes all corners of known space want to be recognised on Omega for?" Shepard replied.

The old krogan could see the logic in that; Shepard had no interest in Omega aside from Omega backing the UCAF against the threats of the reapers and such, and the council. There was nothing that he needed from Omega aside from that.  
>"You have my permission Shepard, kill in my name and make them fear the old war hound." The patriarch smiled.<p>

Shepard motioned for his team, Reona scanned for the hit team that was to locate and assassinate the old krogan.  
>"They're taking the back entrance into the place and a few from the front doors, the guards can handle them, but I think I'll be of more assistance to dealing with them." The lieutenant explained.<p>

"Good, Reona takes front, Zaeed you know what to do, Eric on the top of the place keep the Patriarch safe; I'll deal with the leadership." Shepard ordered.

They scattered, Shepard took the entrance into the lower tunnels of the building while Zaeed went out to the back alley of the place, Reona made contact first with the guards, a few batarians from what she could tell, and Eric had kept his eyes open for infiltrators. Shepard found himself down in the depths of the facility looking for whoever was directing this damn assault.

It didn't take long to hear the sounds of screams as Zaeed began his slaughter; the noise would probably make it rather obvious that they weren't going to have an easy time getting to their target. Shepard didn't take long to find his way to a group heading up to reinforce the attack; Shepard let them pass as he ducked out of sight.

He didn't want to lose his element of surprise, he headed through the depths and didn't need to look far, this attack was being coordinated right under the building, and he could see the garage access for the maintenance. There were 3 vehicles with a dozen armed assailants, and what looked like a turian guiding them.

"Get those damn heavy weapons out, I don't know what the frak is wiping out the teams, but subtlety is out the window, get tactical and wipe out any resistance." The turian ordered angrily.

Shepard noted that the number of armed personnel, he decided to take his fight with a bit of flair, he knew that it wasn't exactly his usual method of engagement but it would spare him the constant shouts that these aliens seem to toss about rather weirdly. He tossed in 2 grenades and blinded them, he jumped from cover and used his DMR and M5 to drop the first 3 and then another as he vaulted down to the turian in charge, at the same time Zaeed seemingly managed to find his way into the same room shredding through his assailants like a berserker.

Shepard closed the distance between him and the turian officer in charge who began wildly attempting to hit him while he rushed forwards. The turian sprayed rapidly across his head; however he seemed rather incapable of striking him, rolling he got back to his feet and rammed his gauntlet into his fist, the gauntlet he had a ton of special upgrades, including shredding talons.

He found his mark around his neck and shredded into soft tissue of the turian's neck, he was rewarded with a gurgle and a spray of blood, his inertia carried the force of his talon down onto the ground. Zaeed was busy mopping up and adding a few new trophies to his collection of skulls. As the turian died Shepard got his rifle out again and began to fire at the nearby hostiles.

It didn't take long for him and Zaeed to mop the rest of the hired assassins out, the assassins were dropped in short order and he received a call over his com.  
>"Shepard, this is Reona, we've handled the remaining assassins, Eric's got the area secure, and the Patriarch wishes to speak with you."<p>

"Tell him I'll be happy to oblige." He replied over the coms.

Before long he and Zaeed were back up at the seminar, and the dear old krogan cheering.  
>"Ah fresh blood, it's been far too long." The old krogan he sighed in happiness.<p>

"I see you're enjoying yourself." Shepard stated observantly.

"Shepard, when you've been alive as long as I have you'll understand that the one thing you are good at will always be the one thing you never forget." The krogan replied with a sense of grim satisfaction.

"I could imagine, so you ready to get back to Aria?" He asked.

"I'm good to go, but you've revived my reputation, becoming a krantt of a former warlord of Omega, would make Aria keep her eye on your next intervention." He warned.

"I have no intention to take Omega, in this life or the next patriarch; I doubt that I might have the time with the Helldiver's as it already is." He replied.

They headed up to Afterlife; it didn't take long for Shepard to get back into Aria's lounge where he soon found her looking at him and smiling dangerously.  
>"How's the fight?"<p>

"Well aside from getting your dear old friend burning." He replied.

"I have to admit, the assassination attempt on his life was something I wanted to avoid, but getting his name renowned again? Last thing I need is further competition." She rolled her eyes.

"Aria, I don't think it's going to be a problem." He replied.

"Fine, you have my thanks, but I want to make it clear on our agreement, don't fuck things up as they already are." She smiled sweetly and then stated.  
>"The fleet is waiting outside, and I would like to urge that you get on track, the council won't exactly be too happy with what you just did, I'll deal with the remaining forces."<p>

"Glad I could help." Shepard replied as he packed up and got to his team.

XXXXX

It didn't take long before they reached the fleet, Shepard hadn't much time before they received word from Hackett and the others that they had the fleet prepared to move, as for Aaron, he had to meet with him on the CIC of the ship to determine their next move, Aaron had discovered the location although the location was probably the trouble.

Getting into the CIC, he found that Aaron was busy tapping a few of the star clusters that he believed to be the location of Eta. Shepard greeted him.  
>"So I can assume that you've found what you need?"<p>

Aaron turned to see him and replied.  
>"Sir, I've found the source of the Eta Halo's location."<p>

"Why do I have a feeling there's a 'but'?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, well the station is located in the grasp of 4 gas giants and a thick asteroid field, it's within the range of multiple constructs, and that alone is going to make the jump dangerous." He replied.

"Let me guess, the constructs are forerunner defence platforms?" He asked.

"No, actually they're mineral and gas vapour harvesters, but they're incredibly volatile, not to mention 100,000 years hasn't left them in good condition." He explained.

Well looks like they were tossing in further problems into an already painful task.  
>"Aaron, I need to know, can we reach the installation without losing half the fleet?" He asked.<p>

"We can make it, but I doubt that it'll end well in the enclosed amount of space." He replied with a shrug.

"Don't worry then, all of us will do what we can, and I need to get the Normandy down there first, is there anything else?" He asked.

"The covenant has reported that their fleets have left from the Event Horizon, they'll be at the coordinates in 18 hours." Anya appeared.

Zaeed stated in anticipation. "What are we waiting for? Let's get this party started."

"Anya, hail the fleet, we're going ahead." He ordered.

Anya nodded and began to relay messages across the fleet.  
>"All ships prepare for departure, repeat all ships prepare for departure."<p>

"This is one hell of a risk you're taking Shepard; I can't imagine that if the reapers or their damned collectors have reinforced this'll end badly." Matthew expressed over the coms.

"We have our priority, we know the cost, and we sure as hell know that there's nothing left holding us back, we either do it or we die trying. There's no turning back from here." He explained as the ship began to reach their jump point.

But before they left, he had one last task at hand.  
>"Anya, please relay this across the fleet."<p>

Anya obliged and began to relay the commander across the fleet. Hundreds of thousands of eyes now watching him as he addressed his followers and friends, those dedicated to the safety of the human race and all life in the galaxy.  
>"Our time has come, there has never been a moment as critical as this, I won't lie to you, the dangers we face from here are as dangerous as any other the UCAF had ever gone against, and the odds are sharply stacked against us. But I tell you this, we will not fail, we will not back down, for every step forward is a step towards our future. If not for ourselves then our children! We go forwards know this, that what we do is what we must for the human race, against the dangers of the galaxy we will remain vigilant and we will not break. We now enter into the abyss and only we will decide, will we return?"<p>

The speech ended and a silence fell over.  
>He then motioned and with the gesture of his hand. "All vessels jump on my mark, 3, 2, 1… mark."<p>

The ships were engulfed into the coming whirlpool of light it was to be their last jump until the end, and the end was catching up with them fast, but Shepard, he could feel that this battle was much more than a simple end, this was the beginning, or maybe the end of the beginning. He only knew that he had a future, for a child born. Would he ever see her?

XXXXX

Eta Halo

2560/3/25

The shrouds of multiple vessels appeared from the dark side of the gas giants, their figures darkening the Halo ring as they headed towards it, in the midst of this oncoming fleet, the head ship, the reaper flagship Sovereign headed the attack. Inside he watched, it had been so long, he knew that the end was coming and soon, with the UCAF coming in with an armada it was to become a free for all shortly.

Saren smiled upon his gilded throne of blue and velvet watching aptly as the fleet dispersed, they'd take ground position while they prepared to activate the halo; their little friend was enough for them to begin the end or stall it long enough. Saren however felt something else, nervousness, even though he had so many years in fighting against the UCAF and other battles, he found that Shepard and that fool of the UCAF Anderson were his greatest threats,

And Sovereign agreed that the coming battle was to decide the fate of the galaxy and the UCAF, and Shepard was going to lead it to the end. Saren smiled at the thought of killing the damned human champion and felt bitter as hell for what he did to him.

But aside from the regular bitterness of life, Saren watched in anticipation for the UCAF, this was a battle to be heard of through the ages. Either the UCAF and Shepard set him back once more, or the reapers got a step ahead, Saren had no doubt that the activation of Halo would surely aid him and the reapers, their goal was at hand, but Shepard couldn't be allowed to win.

Saren felt the thrum of the reaper's heart; Sovereign demanded nothing less than absolute victory. There was no failure for the reapers.

XXXXX

Location: Unknown

"The pieces they fall into place, **they all fall into place**, the time has come, **and I shall ascend**, again… but this time he's coming, **for us all**, me and brother**, isn't that right mother?**" He asked the oblivion of the darkness.

He heard no response, but continued in his psychotic ramble, at least until he could hear of the earth shaking, he knew that they had arrived, and he would be there to see them off, the end of this ring and the rebirth of the flood. All will suffer, all will know fear, not just of the ancient dead machines, but of the dead ones, there would be no end. Only his lasting victory…

XXXXX

Location: Eta Halo

Time: 2560/3/25

Shepard waited patiently at the bridge of the Normandy waiting for the time to finally exit FTL, they'd jump right into the fight with the reapers, Normandy spearheading the fight, with over a hundred ships to boot, and if this wasn't a fight of titans then it would be at least a fight of survival, and only the victor would be the one who succeeds.

Anya appeared.  
>"Commander, real space transition in 1 minute…"<p>

"Good, tell all personnel to active combat status, expect company, a lot of company." He ordered.

"Very well, all ships have batteries and MACs at ready, fighter screens have prepared for immediate deployment, and drop ships are prepared for combat drop. Emergency teams are at standby and awaiting for deployment." Anya announced.

"Thank you Anya." He stated to the AI.

There was a brief pause as the ships headed onwards to their coming battle, the fleet had been gathered into a spearhead formation prepared for a javelin strike formation, they'd find no resistance as of yet, or be on the receiving end of a lot. The timer went down to the last second.  
>"Transition to real space now."<p>

Shepard watched as the aura of light passed and they opened out into normal space, and came to face with Halo, it was as magnificent as ever, but something got to him. The fleet of reapers orbiting, and then there was the fleet of ships right in front of them.  
>"All ships engage!" He ordered.<p>

XXXXX

AN: (Yeah that time again.)

Looks like the battle for Eta has begun, and the coming battle will decide the fate of the galaxy, and the future of the Shepard family, there is also a number of cameos coming along, and with cameos new little tidbits into what is to happen.

Do you guys want Legion to appear?

Do you want the details of the Elites engagement? Including the Order of the Arbiters?

Do you want to have the council's own account?

Also, do you want to know more or less of Joseph and Uri of the Chimera project?

And let's not forget the other vying factions of the galaxy, which ones do you guys want to know or have in the up and coming story arc?

Also Zaeed is still the hardest to kill bastard right next to Master Chief.


End file.
